The saying “War is Hell,” has never been more true than in Apocalypse Now. The true fragility of a man’s mind is tested in the thick jungles of Vietnam. However, in this film it isn’t the enemy where the horror lies, but hell itself, and the river that leads to it. The longer our protagonist floats along the river, the more horror he discovers. This is a journey truly of supernatural insanity, and it all leads into the Heart of Darkness. It is Hell on Earth, and home to Satan himself – Colonel Walter E. Kurtz.

Commissioned by God

A muted napalm strike ravages the jungle as “The End” by The Doors is the soundtrack to hellfire. Choppers fly by, and a paranoid face flashes through the scene. We are snapped into his reality. We see Captain Benjamin L. Willard (played by Martin Sheen) lay alone in his hotel room in Saigon. The whooping slash of helicopter blades in harmony with the hotel room fan traps him in a mental state of war.  

“When I was here and I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle.”

Willard is tortured by something evil inside him. He drinks and dances as he loses control of himself. It is his only release from the life he despises. As the next day begins, we see why.

Two sergeants bring him orders for a mission, and escort Willard to General Corman’s quarters. As Willard introduces himself, it’s here where we discover why he feels so tortured; he’s an assassin. As Corman explains the details of the mission, he reveals that he isn’t killing a Vietcong; he’s killing one of their own – Col.Walter E. Kurtz (Played by Marlon Brando).

Corman explains that after Kurtz had joined the special forces, his ideas had become “unsound,” and that “he has very obviously gone insane.” Col. Lucas (Played by Harrison Ford) goes on to explain that “Now he’s crossed into Cambodia with his Montagnard army of his that worship the man like a god. And follow every order, however ridiculous.” Kurtz has become a leader of an insane ideology, and it’s Willard’s mission to assassinate him.

Willard despises who he is, but he must act on it. It is his soul purpose. It may be a curse but there is no place for him anywhere else but Vietnam. He is an Angel of Death, and he must accept his god given task from God himself, Gen. Corman. He is an assassin amongst the thick groves and winding rivers of Southern Asia. His only purpose now is to purge the insanity deep from within the Heart of Darkness.

Kilgore

Willard later links up with his team in a small navy patrol boat to reach a massive offensive led by Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore (Played by Robert Duvall). They arrive to find that an entire village is being wiped out. There is absolutely no competition. Kilgore’s army rolls over them like a steamroller with absolute ease. The next day Kilgore and his army take to the skies and destroy yet another village, all in the name to find a great place to surf. Kilgore has no problem risking his men’s lives to reach a goal, and it’s because he has no fear that he won’t win.

Watching the action he unleashes is absolutely incredible. The explosions, the choppers, the napalm, it’s American masculinity in a nutshell. Kilgore’s loyal soldiers feed off of that energy and they worship him like a god. They would do anything for him. Sound familiar? Yes, that same god-like insanity is not just limited to Kilgore, but to Kurtz as well. It’s most certainly two different types of insanity, but insanity nonetheless. While Kilgore’s army is addicted to winning and testosterone, Kurtz’s army is addicted to his darkness, insanity and power.

The Bunnies

After Kilgore’s massacre, Willard and the crew leave and travel up river. They soon stumble upon a military base, but a very different base. There’s an amphitheater covered in bright lights being readied by some army men. The crew learns that Playboy Playmates are being flown in to entertain the hard working soldiers of America. The massive crowd of wild military men gather in the amphitheater and wait as a piece of home is flown down in a helicopter. The Bunnies jump out, and the men go crazy. This is the last piece of home.

This scene is the halfway mark in the movie, and it’s the cliff that leads into hell. Before this scene, there has been bits and pieces of home everywhere. Kilgore is a caricature of the classic American cowboy, and before that Willard had always been in U.S.-held territory. However, after this point there is no more. This is the peak for Willard, and the Playmates represent the farewell from home. Willard is going all the way, and he’s taking the crew with him.

Do Lung: Purgatory

Willard’s journey becomes more insane the further up the river he travels. Less and less U.S. territory is held and Charlie (American war slang for Vietcong) starts to hold the upper hand. The crew makes it to the Do Lung bridge to find the Commanding Officer, and gather any information they can. Do Lung is the northernmost U.S. base. It is destroyed every night and rebuilt every morning. The men here lie in purgatory, the resting place between reality and hell. Every soldier at Do Lung is shellshocked. When Willard and the crew slowly pass by on the river, soldiers jump in the water and beg for mercy and plead for an escape from Do Lung. They are forgotten men in a forgotten place. They know that they are already dead.

The crew anchors the boat, and Willard goes off to find the C.O.. Willard finds a man shooting a .50 cal furiously into the pitch black forest. However, he has no luck as Charlie keeps screaming to his friends. “Get the Roach” the machine gunner yells to his friend. He goes off and wakes a man sleeping with a grenade launcher. The man slowly wakes and turns off the manic Jimi Hendrix music blaring on a cassette player. He’s stoic, but he takes aim in the sky and fires. An explosion goes off, and the scream stops. Willard breaks the silence and asks, “Hey soldier, do you know who’s in command here?” Roach replies, “Yeah,” and he walks away. Willard leaves and goes back down to the boat. He says, “There’s no fucking CO here,” and the crew leave Do Lung and travel up river.

The Heart of Darkness

Past Do Lung, the crew follows the river until they finally reach the end. It’s completely silent, an ancient temple awaits along with Kurtz’s army. Hundreds of natives, painted in white stand silently in canoes as Willard and the remaining crew slowly dock. Nobody says a word. The natives open a hole for them to pass through, and the crew anchors the boat at the entrance of the temple. To their surprise, an American follower greets them and explains that Kurtz has been waiting for Willard. The time has come, and Willard goes to meet Kurtz. Everything has led to this moment.

Silhouetted in darkness, Kurtz already knows who Willard is and why he’s there. As the two converse, Kurtz seems to know just as much about Willard as he does about Kurtz. There is something of a higher being within the temple and it is Kurtz himself. His insanity, his darkness within, has granted him ownership over the Heart of Darkness. A state of mind, an evil enlightenment. An evil so brilliant that God himself sent his own Angel of Death to destroy it. Kurtz has become Satan and he rules over the children who follow him. He need not to explain, they follow because they already know. Kurtz is the holder of the Heart of Darkness, he is the Heart of Darkness. However even with the power he holds, he accepts his incoming fate from Willard. Whether he wants escape the clutches of his own insane mind, or simply just accepts destiny, it will never be known. Day turns to night and the children begin to ritual in front of the temple. Willard is covered in war paint, he marches to Kurtz and cuts him down. “The End” by The Doors begins to play again as Willard hacks Kurtz to Death. Kurtz’s final words, “The Horror… The Horror.” echo to Willard and now what was once Kurtz is now Willard. He has adopted the Heart of Darkness in the killing of Satan. Before he leaves, Willard looks through Kurtz’s notes and finds a page with the sentence written in red, “Drop the Bomb! Exterminate them all!”

He exits the temple to see the army staring at him, observing their new leader. Willard drops the bloodied ax and the army drops all of their weapons in response. Finally finished with his purpose, Willard leaves with his last remaining crew mate and gets back onto the boat. As they leave the radio calls with a man identifying his callsign as “Almighty”. God is calling once again and an airstrike is readied. The two remaining men push off the temple in silence and watch the army stand in silence, waiting for their imminent destruction. Willard has completed his purpose but the evil still remains; inside it’s new body- Captain Benjamin L. Willard.