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. Camera work, such as point of view shots, show choppers swooping in and mowing down innocent villagers. Contrast of shots emphasises the effect of war and its horrors – a calm, peaceful village, with children singing, and villagers going about their business. Then, ten minutes later, not a living Vietnamese person – man, woman or child – is left. Close-ups of explosions show the extent of the destruction, and Colonel Kilgore, a rather arrogant character, reflects on another similar incident – "Had a hill bombed for twelve hours...we didn't find one of them, not one stinking dink body..." The props used in the film – grenades, guns, bombs and such – symbolize the emptiness and evil of war, and the lives it rips into pieces. At the end of the horrifying sequence, one is lost in wondering how one can possibly inflict such pain on others willingly, when Kilgore's ignorant words puncture one's thoughts – "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. [It smells] like victory." His dialogue, and indeed, the whole sequence, reflects Coppola's upfront and harsh ideas about war, depicting the death and destruction it causes without editing out disturbing images. Yet although it is far from pleasant to watch, it provides thought-provoking material to help us understand the destructive na
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