David Godwin - Apocalypse Now

The aspect of horror in the film Apocalypse Now is an affective representation of mysterium tremendum. Everything about Kurtz and his perverted community of followers contains the awe-fullness of mystery. Kurtz himself is a character who evokes awe in his mysteriousness. He is intelligent, spiritual, powerful, and in fact rational. In class we discussed the “insanity” of both Kilgore and Kurtz, but I would argue that the reason why Kurtz is so frightening is because he is not insane at all. His tactics and methods are a well-reasoned, rational, and logical subversion of militaristic disorder. Kilgore, on the other hand, contributes to the decay of order in the jungle and makes judgments that are “unsound” and dangerous.
As our protagonist, Willard, continues up the river throughout the movie, we see more and more of this same decay of order. It isn’t until we meet Kurtz and his community that things become ordered again. But, the order here is frightening. Violence is mercilessly used to defend Kurtz’s vision of justice and fear of Kurtz’s power is the inspiration for obedience. This kind of power that Kurtz holds over the people elevates him to the level of a god. The people are so willing to surrender to him because he is the only source of order throughout the jungle. Up until this point, generals are themselves disordered (like Kilgore) or are not even present to maintain order (as we see when Willard gets to the bridge). But, Kurtz offers Cosmos in the surrounding Chaos.
This film lays bare the core foundation of religion in general. First, it shows us how chaos leads us to cosmos, just as chaos led Willard (and other soldiers) to Kurtz. Kurtz’s state of mind becomes like a religion to soldiers in the chaotic jungle because they have no other solid ground on which to stand. Second, the film shows how gods rely on fear to motivate obedience. Even in the Holy Bible’s book of Proverbs the author writes that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Apocalypse Now responds to this truth by asking, what if your God were evil? Most religions believe that their god is good or holistically balanced, but what if we didn’t have the luxury of serving a good god? Would we serve him anyway out of our fear and need for order in a world of chaos? The film asks these important questions and gives us its frightening answer.