Apocalypse Now: Colonel Kurtz, the Heart of Modernity, and What We MustLearn From It

I had to write a paper on Modernity as it related to what we were covering in my Western Civ class, and so had the opportunity to watch Apocalypse Now, in order to make comparisons between it and the book it's vaguely based on, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.  

I have to say, the movie drags in the beginning.  And the middle.  There are some fantastic scenes -- particularly, the scene with the Playmates after they've gone upriver a ways.  The women are topless, but it's not remotely sexualized for the viewer; the scene is meant to highlight the way the soldiers objectify these women, and it's disturbing and brilliantly played.

But the movie doesn't come into its own until Marlon Brando's first appearance as Kurtz.  As soon as Kurtz becomes more than just a shadow that the protagonist is chasing, the movie becomes great.

Brando's performance is formidable -- Kurtz is a mysterious figure, and gives very little justification for himself beyond an empty, Modernist nihilism.  He says that he's deserted into the jungle of Cambodia and built this tiny dictatorship because the men in charge of the Vietnam war are "insane."

The narrative of the movie doesn't treat anyone in it as a hero, which is refreshing to see, and it forces us to examine our perceptions of right and wrong, and what we think we know about violence.

I think it should be required watching -- though I recommend not watching the extended cut that I sat through -- it was pretty dull at times.