Film Review: Apocalypse Now The Final Cut *** 1/2
Warning: This review contains spoilers as in order to discuss the Final Cut against both the original and Redux, we must analyze the differences in the editing choices Coppola makes.
Forty years after its original release, Apocalypse Now remains one of the crowning achievements of cinema. The original cut of the film, still the true masterpiece, deals with the Vietnam War, not as a factual event, but rather as an allegory to allow Willard to journey into the heart of human darkness, into the depths of our own depravity. He follows in Kurtz’s steps (“I had no idea that I would become the carrier of Colonel E Kurtz memory… I have no way of telling his story without telling my own. And if his story is a confession, so is mine.”) down “the river”, a metaphorical journey of going against the natural path and traveling into darkness and insanity. Coppola, claiming in Hearts of Darkness: a Filmmaker’s Apocalypse that he indeed made the most hopeful piece of art in humanity; that it could be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, reveals that despite humanity’s journey into the heart of darkness, we can not only survive, but return with our innocence intact. Could there be a more important message for our time?
For the 40th anniversary, Coppola has returned to his masterpiece and issued a re-cut of the film. Is it the final cut? In some ways, one can only hope. In 2001, Coppola, along with his editor Walter Murch, re-released Apocalypse Now as Apocalypse Now Redux. By that point in my life, I had probably seen the original cut of Apocalypse Now four or five times, but going to see it in theaters in Santa Cruz was a life changing experience. Almost no film I have ever seen in theaters (2001: A Space Odyssey would be another) has captured the use of the visual medium better. When I reviewed Redux and placed it on my top ten list that year, I was denounced by some other cinephiles not only because Redux is certainly not as good as the original cut, but also because they said a movie made in 1979 and re-edited in 2001, should not be eligible for consideration of a top ten list in 2001. I countered that Redux is a different movie in every sense from Apocalypse Now. I believe that Apocalypse Now Redux is indeed a Vietnam War Film, and the original is not.
In Redux, there were three major scenes added along with several other shots tucked into the film. Each of these sequences involved an understanding of Vietnam and the negative consequences of American / European imperialism. One of the sequences, called the second playboy bunny sequence, involved the patrol boat and its crew finding that the playboy bunny chopper, which took off to save the playboy bunnies from being gang raped. The chopper did not have enough fuel to escape and had been forced down. Willard, having just purchased fuel at the base where the playboy bunnies danced, exchanges the fuel for sexual favors for his crew. The fact that none of the crew are able to actually have sex is symbolic of the impotence of the American army in Vietnam.
Another sequence, even more crucial to understanding the film as a Vietnam War story, the French Plantation sequence deals with the history of colonization of Vietnam. The French, desperately hanging on, are doomed, just as America’s intervention is doomed. The problem is that the French Plantation sequence in Redux is painfully long, including a drug induced sexual encounter for Willard with a French woman. The sequence also allows closure for the audience following the death of Mr. Clean who originally disappears after his death in the original cut, but in Redux is buried at the French plantation with military honors.
I believe that Redux attempts to create a film specifically about the horrors of war and the horrors of colonization similar to the novella the film is based on, Hearts of Darkness. As a result, I think the film is a successful movie, even though it does not compare with the brilliance of the original. With that being said, how does the final cut measure up to these two movies? To be honest, there is not that much of a difference between the original and the final cut, but the effect is major.
Being able to watch Apocalypse Now on the big screen is worth the price of admission alone. The most improved feature I found is the sound, which now crackles with a crispness I’ve not heard before even in Redux. It is remarkable. But, that being said, while Redux I argue (and Walter Murch confirms in The Conversations by Minghella) is a Vietnam War film and the original is a metaphorical journey, The Final Cut is muddled by Coppola’s additions and left to float somewhere in the middle, unsure of what it is.
One of the dreamlike effects of the original film is that the sequences in the film do not follow linear logic. For example, after leaving Kilgore and his copters on the beach, the crew stops for mangoes. In the original, there is no reason they stop. They simply do. But, in Redux and now in the Final Cut, Willard decides to steal Kilgore’s surfboard before they take off, causing Kilgore to search for them. The reason they are stopped on the shore where Chef goes to find mangoes is that they are hiding from Kilgore’s patrols. The dreamlike quality of the original makes sense. In the Final Cut, Coppola seeks to smooth out the logical gaps in his original film, which I think ultimately, don’t aid the movie. The idea that Willard would steal Kilgore’s surfboard seems out of character. He’s laughing and smiling after success, something we never see him do.
Following this, the French plantation scene makes an appearance although cut to a merciful ten minutes. Although beautifully shot, the scene really serves again to make logical connections between the previous sequence and the following. After Mr. Clean is killed, we now see his burial. At his burial, Chief gives the honors of accepting the American flag to Willard. There is a moment of connection for these men. The problem is that in the following sequence Chief will try to kill Willard. Having no break and certainly no moment connection between Clean’s death and Chief’s attempt to kill Willard muddies Chief’s emotional reasoning for trying to end Willard’s life.
Another short sequence added shows the boat following the first playboy bunny scene (the second playboy bunny is not included in The Final Cut). The crew merrily gets along, bantering about nothing. The only thing that happens is that Lance puts on water skis. In the original film, there is no reason that Lance is water skiing; he simply is. Now, there is a logical reason.
It feels like the attempts to create logic actually undermine the allegorical, dreamlike quality of the original film Apocalypse Now. Ultimately, the movie should not be considered a realistic portrayal of anything, but rather, a symbolic journey into the heart of darkness. Even though it adds these sequences to little effect, Coppola’s film in almost any form remains a great movie.
I do hope Coppola heeds the famous advice once attributed to Leonardo DaVinci, and told to me by George Malko, who heard it from Federico Fellini: “No art is finished… it is abandoned.” Francis, it’s time to abandon re-cutting this movie. I hope that is not another cut for the 50th anniversary.
Post Note:
The great writer, Viet Nguyen, whose novel The Sympathizer, is one of the great works of our time, has very important and critical objections to Apocalypse Now. Being Vietnamese, these objections are not only academic, but also personal. Viet rightly points out that Coppola provides no characters to give the Vietnamese viewpoint. More than that, he reduces their culture to stereotypes such as Oriental mysticism that only reinforce the idea that Asian cultures are primitive and barbaric. He also establishes the concept of Kurtz and Willard both being white saviors in their own regard. Kurtz becoming a god to the natives, and Willard saving them from being “duped” by Kurtz. Going even further, he plays with notions that the Vietnamese cannot be trusted. Finally, by shooting the film in the Philippines, he creates the suggestion that all Asian cultures are alike.
Being Asian myself, although not Vietnamese, I understand this criticism considering I too have been judged as the foreign other. Not being Vietnamese, it is not as personal for me though.
That being said, I do believe that taken as an allegorical story, and limited by Coppola’s own privilege, the setting of this movie is not meant to be perceived as real. Making the film following the Vietnam War, he used current events at the time which brought with them a sense of insanity and fear to connect to the idea that these core human mistakes are mistakes humanity has made since the beginning of time. He also portrays America as a negative force. I believe this helps with some of the mistakes and blunders in portraying the Vietnamese culture. The helicopter attack scene is scored with Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”; the music of the Third Reich, perhaps a statement on the horrific actions of the American military. Yes, it can be viewed as exciting, but I think a more accurate read of it, is to view it as Willard does: a massacre perpetrated by an insane man, Kilgore who napalms an entire village only to be able to surf.
In the end, Coppola indeed is a prisoner of his own perspective. Hopefully in these days, a filmmaker would actually do research into the culture and represent them with more finesse than was done in 1979… I hope… but it is still a problem.
