A Textual Analysis of the ending scene from ‘Apocalypse Now’

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This essay will explore the final scene from Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War film, ‘Apocalypse Now.’ The screenplay was based on the novel ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad, and the final scene follows Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) entering into the chambers of the gone rogue Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) to kill him.

In this scene, lighting and camera positioning plays a massive role, especially for Kurtz. Throughout Kurtz’s screen time, he is shown in the shadows, with only his face being visible at times. There are a few reasons for this, one for the fact being that Brando was slightly overweight for the character of Kurtz – to which Coppola decided to ‘film Brando from the waist upwards, he would have the image of a huge seven-foot guy, whose broad shoulders would not necessarily make him appear fat.’ (Peter Cowie 2000). Along with this, the shadows were used to also disguise his weight; however it may be implied that Coppola could have used this to his advantage, and the shadows add to the mysterious nature of the character of Kurtz, and help to show him as the dark, enigmatic man described throughout the film

The same can be said for Willard, who is also shows heavily in darkness in this scene. Throughout the film, Willard is shown as the hero and the only man who can stop Kurtz. However, when his journey leads him to this point, we can see that Willard is starting to become ever so darker. A shot in this scene shows Willard stood as a silhouette in front of Kurtz’s compound. In this, the compound is brightly lit up, with the natives holding celebrations, whilst Willard stands out against this as this dark man. We see this silhouette again once Willard has entered the compound and begin to attack Kurtz, supported by a low angle shot. This shows that Willard has finally reached the point of no return, and presents him as what would seem to be the innocent man from the beginning of the film, to an absolute monster, slaughtering an innocent man – the low angle shot putting us in Kurtz’s place as the tragedy unfolds. 

This links to one of the main ideas of the film, the idea of the ‘Heart of Darkness.’ It is almost like an entity which Kurtz has taken, but with his acceptance of Willard coming to kill him, has allowed Willard to take the ‘Heart of Darkness’ away from him for himself. Cowie says: ‘The story is metaphorical: Willard’s journey up the river is also a journey into himself, and the strange and savage man he finds at the end is also an aspect of himself.’ This heavily implies that both men are very similar – the war has pushed them to an extent where they feel they are going mad, Willard’s journey up the river being a prime example of his changing. We follow his journey up the river and we end it seeing a slowly changed new man.

We see this change in one shot that has become ever so famous. The shot see’s Willard dropping into the river and slowly rising from it, face covered in camouflage paint – with a broken look on his face. We have not seen this look before from Willard, and the slow emerge from the river could connote rebirth for this character – as a completely new man either following his orders to kill Kurtz, or kill him only for himself. The fog surrounding Willard almost looks like steam or smoke coming from a fire, which could connote Willard, has risen from what could be seen as the gates of hell. The sound and flashes of thunder and lightning in this shot also help to connote that this deed he will carry out is one of terror, which will turn him forever.

The song used in this scene, ‘The End’ by The Doors, is also extremely significant in this scene. Played also at the beginning of the film, it helps the climax of the film largely. The section that is played is the second half of the song, which has a slow build-up of lyrics until Willard confronts Kurtz to kill him. As Kurtz is slaughtered, the song plays a fast paced section of guitar and drums, getting faster and faster as Willard strikes. As this is happening, the scenes keeps changing to shots of the natives butchering a water buffalo, and the scenes keeps transitioning between the two to show the comparisons – Kurtz being killed like an animal, and Willard’s no shame in doing this shows us a lot about not just Willard himself, but the impact the war has had on him and Kurtz, and that men can be killed here without any justification, it is war. The music reaches its climax as both Kurtz and buffalo are killed, signifying ‘The End.’ Raikespeare says this of the song and its relationship to the film and its certain link to Willard’s taking of the Heart of Darkness: ‘And the journey is really in ourselves, to this place of paranoia and intrigue, the kind of place you would go to inside if you convinced yourself on the outside that the world is coming to an end.’ This directly links to a line Willard says earlier in the film that he has a ‘desire to confront’ Kurtz over the man he is, to kill him, knowing that this may be the only way to satisfy the man he has become– once he has taken the ‘Heart of Darkness’ he becomes what Kurtz was, and we see this when he leaves the chambers of Kurtz, and the compound accept Willard as their new ‘god.’  

Kurtz’ last line, ‘the horror, the horror’ is repeated as the screen fades to black as Willard leaves the compound. We can gather that this line may be left completely ambiguous to what the audience believes it means. One interpretation shows us that the ‘Heart of Darkness’ has left him and gone to Willard, and now he has returned to be the man he once was, and recalls his misdeeds and the terrible things he has seen – and now Willard will take his place.  

Bibliography 
  • Crowie, P, (2000) The Apocalypse Now Book, London, Faber and Faber
  • Raikespeare (2013) My Top 22 Favourite Songs [Internet] https://raikespeare.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/my-top-22-favorite-songs-10-the-end-by-the-doors-apocalypse-now-soundtrack/ [29/10/2015]
Filmography

  • Apocalypse Now (22nd April 2002) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. USA, Francis Ford Coppola DVD
  • Heart of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse (9th January2012) Directed by Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper, Eleanor Coppola. USA, Les Mayfield, George Zaloom DVD

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