Matthew Winant - Apocalypse Now (2/28/2009)

I find that whenever I view Apocalypse Now the only image that sticks is Charlie Sheen's eyes. Throughout the entirety of the film, these are the focal point of the shot. I don't find it appropriate to call Kilgore insane, besides his “R & R” antics, his warfare strategy is a necessary response to the tactics of the Vietcong. Kilgore called in an air strike on people that were freely laying mortar free along the beach, and in the scene before Kilgore watched from a helicopter a woman throwing a grenade into a helicopter filled with wounded. Yes he wanted to surf, but this is his way to defuse a situation, and it was not the two men who went to surf before Kilgore were fine. The term 'insane' also cannot be used on Colonel Kurtz, he was a man who disagreed with the workings of the U.S. Military and decided to work rogue and be appreciated by Cambodians who respect his ability to restore order. While Captain Willard travels up the river to Cambodia, he sees the demoralization of the army through drugs, alcohol, or people working without constraints. I find that the reason that Willard decided to kill Kurtz was not because it was his mission, rather it was because he finally saw what Vietnam really was and was able to go home afterwards. The promotion promised to Willard soon becomes superficial when he sees what he is getting into. What I also notice is that even though in Kurtz writes in red on his book “Call in the bomb, kill them all”, what we can infer is that Willard ignores this message and just leaves with Lance.