Apocalypse Now: An Avant-Garde American War Film

In 1979, Francis Ford Coppola released Apocalypse Now, one of the most prominent war films in American cinema. Influenced by Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, the epic Vietnam War film stars Martin Sheen as Army Lieutenant B.L. Willard and Marlon Brando as Walter Kurtz, a crazed renegade American Colonel. Captain Willard receives the mission to make his way upriver by boat to Kurtz’s remote compound in Cambodia, assassinate him, and capture his command. 

Unlike most American war films, Apocalypse Now shies away from the typical conventions often employed, and instead, uses a surrealistic and symbolic approach to illustrate how the savagery and madness of the war transforms the nature of man; this greater focus on the psychedelic, metaphorical journey of Willard and his crew is shown through the film’s camerawork, alternative ideas, screenplay, cinematography, editing, and sound. 

Traditionally in the American war film, subjects including combat, battle strategies, and victories or defeats demand the majority of thematic attention. Bloody bodies fill the screen as well as sounds of thunderous explosions and rapid machine guns rattling rounds of bullets in the air. 

Colonels scream orders over the deafening clatter to their troops. Aerial shots, also frequently used in American war films, demonstrate fighter planes flying overhead firing at the enemies’ base. War strategies and tactics are often discussed between generals, adding to the audience’s comprehension of the plot. In American war films preceding the Vietnam War this film content was commonplace.