Feature Article on Coppola

Yet one of the most shocking and disturbing sequences in the entire film (and there are a few), a helicopter team massacring an entire village, actually makes one want to turn away in a mixture of grief, disgust and anger. The voice over narration shows how and why Willard’s thoughts change, and the impact the war has on him. “The heads? You’re looking at the heads. These costume changes are imperative in understanding how Lance changes throughout the film. Willard, too, a soldier sent on a secret mission to eradicate Kurtz, comments on his order to assassinate, through his narrating voice over – “Charging a man with murder in this place is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500. He seems to build up a wall to block off the pain of confusion of the war. This is the most ambiguous of the film’s issues, and some characters must be scratched below the surface to discover their true feelings. We’d cut them in half with a machine gun and give them a band-aid. Contrast of shots emphasises the effect of war and its horrors – a calm, peaceful village, with children singing, and villagers going about their business. ” As Willard begins to understand Kurtz’s mental disintegration through his own similar experiences, one is forced to wonder. This is seen through his acting, when he shoots and kills a Vietnamese girl in cold blood, to speed up his journey. His acting shows his partial insanity when he pulls a prank with a smoke grenade that almost gets the entire crew of the boat killed. The cult-like aura of death seems to reflect Kurtz’s unstable mentality, which lighting complements. Arms thrashing wildly, he sobs “I don’t fuckin’ need this! All I ant to do is fuckin’ cook!” Chef’s understandable reaction to the shock of being inches from death, show how he deals with the war and its horrifying effects.