Apocalypse Now By Francis Ford Coppola - 1073 Words

In Francis Ford Coppola’s, Apocalypse Now (1979), you follow the journey of Captain Benjamin L. Willard, as he makes his way up the Nung River on a US Navy patrol boat in Vietnam to assassinate Colonel Walter Kurtz. Coppola’s film reflects the Vietnam war and all the horrors –seen and unseen— associated with it. Specifically, the dissent into madness and the dehumanizing effects of war. Coppola uses the river to symbolize this dissent into madness. The further up the river the crew got, the more dehumanized they became. Even Coppola’s choice of title Apocalypse Now screams what this movie is about. This symbolism accompanied by perfectly paired music and camera angles that often cast shadows strongly show the madness of war. Coppola expresses the decline into insanity in stages. In this first stage, there is still have plenty of light and very few shadows. This stage represents the dehumanization of the enemy and it is where we first meet Lt. Colone l Bill Kilgore. Coppola perfectly pairs the song â€Å"Ride of The Valkyries† with a scene of Kilgore flying in with helicopters and tearing up a village. As the song plays, we can see an uneven match between the Americans and the natives. Just like a Valkyrie, Kilgore is seen as a decider of who lives and who dies. This is further enforced by the fact that Kilgore is a part of the Air Calvary. A division of the Army that was once known to ride around on horses, implying that Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore is one of the four horsemen ofShow MoreRelatedThe Movie Apocalypse Now Is Directed By Francis Ford Coppola728 Words   |  3 Pages The movie Apocalypse Now is directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1985. The genre is drama along with a theme of good vs. evil, and man vs. self. The movie is based on a burned out soldier during the Vietnam war, who has been ordered to kill another U.S Soldier who has become a renegade and insane. While, without the sound effects in the first five minutes, the shot can set the tone of the movie. However, two types of sound effects used in the first five minutes make the tone of this movie. TheRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie Apocalypse Now Directed By Francis Ford Coppola912 Words   |  4 Pagesenough to spend eternity in a place of unspeakable horrors. Not everyone thinks this way and who knows if there even is a Hell; but for a group of soldiers led by U.S Captain of special operations Benjamin Willard in the film Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Ford Coppola, their Hell is all too real. Though it was not in the form of fire and demons, but in the Cambodian jungle during Vietnam. The film follows the journey of Willard, who begins the movie in search of a new mission because he feelsRead MoreEssay on Compare and Contrast Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now1353 Words   |  6 PagesApocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is the story of Captain Willards journey up the Nung River in Cambodia to kill a general, Kurtz, who has lost control of himself. It is set in the Vietnam War and is a very gritty and affecting film. Imagine my surprise when I learned that it was sort of based on Joseph Conrads famous novella, Heart of Darkness. Conrads book, the tale of the sailor Marlowes African adventure, is a study on the evils of colonialism. The two stories at first glanceRead More Film Essay - Cultural Turmoil in Francis Ford Coppola’s Movie, Apocalypse Now1637 Words   |  7 PagesCultural Turmoil in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now The era of the 1960’s was one of change, just like so many of the enduring songs say. With words like revolution and freedom being used to promote movements that changed our society forever. The most important being the Civil Rights movement, and arguably the most influential: the sexual revolution. While great new ideas and beliefs were starting to take root, morals and social constructs that had been established were endangeredRead MoreA Renewed Sense Of Hopelessness : American Sentiment Following The Vietnam War1395 Words   |  6 Pages- My project is titled â€Å"A Renewed Sense of Hopelessness: American Sentiment Following the Vietnam War.† Since I’m interested in studying how film actively molded Americans’ interpretation of the Vietnam War, I picked Francis Ford Coppola’s film, Apocalypse Now, as my artifact. I thought that it would be a good choice because it’s one of the most well-known war films and it came out just a few yea rs after the Vietnam War. This image from the beginning of the film shows napalm being dropped on theRead More Comparing Marlow of Heart of Darkness and Willard of Apocalypse Now1512 Words   |  7 PagesComparing Marlow of Heart of Darkness and Willard of Apocalypse Now      Whenever books are adapted for film, changes inevitably have to be made. The medium of film offers several advantages and disadvantages over the book: it is not as adept at exploring the inner workings of people - it cannot explore their minds so easily; however, the added visual and audio capabilities of film open whole new areas of the imagination which, in the hands of a competent writer-director, can more than compensateRead More Comparing Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness Essay1489 Words   |  6 PagesComparing Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness   Ã‚   In the opening scenes of the documentary film Hearts of Darkness-A Filmmakers Apocalypse, Eleanor Coppola describes her husband Franciss film, Apocalypse Now, as being loosely based on Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness. Indeed, loosely is the word; the period, setting, and circumstances of the film are totally different from those of the novella. Yet, a close analysis of character, plot, and theme in each respective work reveals thatRead More Heart of Darkness Versus Apocalypse Now: The Death of Kurtz Essay816 Words   |  4 PagesHeart of Darkness Versus Apocalypse Now: The Death of Kurtz Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness to disguise his disapproval of European imperialism in the Congo. He describes the chaos and savagery found in the Congo to convince Europeans that they should stay out of Africa. Francis Ford Coppola made Apocalypse Now to disguise his disapproval of American involvement in Vietnam. He depicts the merciless slaughter of countless Vietnamese to show Americans that the United States does more harmRead MoreHeart of Darkness vs. Apocalypse Now Essay816 Words   |  4 Pages In Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, both Joseph Conrad and Francis Ford Coppola create similar statements through their creations as they both centralize their views upon the effects of environmental changes that affect the human condition. The film Apocalypse Now vaguely reflects a similar message pursued by Conrad’s novella, due to the difference in time period, place setting, and circumstances in which the film was created. Conrad wrote his novella duri ng British colonization, focusingRead MoreComparing Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan1515 Words   |  7 PagesComparing Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan Desai Abdul-Razzaaq HIST 1302 – American History II Mr. Daniel Bush Central Texas College January 4, 2010 The films Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now were both critically acclaimed films depicting the dramas of war. They both had very realistic qualities and great cinematic values. The films had two great Hollywood directors in, Steven Spielberg