In my English class way back in college - a whopping three years ago - we read Joseph Conrad''s
Heart of Darkness,
a strange and twisted journey of a British officer who descends into the heart of Africa (get it) where he encounters Kurtz, a once decorated officer who has become influenced by the natural surroundings and has become a God-like figure to the locals. So, I decided that I would finally take a look at what is considered one of the best movies ever,
Apocalypse Now.
Apocalypse Now is based on Conrad''s novel, but instead of taking place in the Congo, it takes place in Vietnam during the war, and stars Martin Sheen as the American soldier who is hired to venture into Cambodia and retrieve or kill Kurtz, who has seemingly gone mad. Some of the plot points are different, but the symbolism remains the same, and you do not have to be a genius to get the theme of the movie.
The movie is anti-war for sure, but it does it in such a way that it makes an irony of the older pro-war films. In the title sequence, we get to see a forest get destroyed by napalm, all along to a rather upbeat song. Apocalypse Now does similar things throughout the entire length of the film, making an irony of all things that glamorize war.