Leandra Jacobson 3/16/09

Apocalypse Now begins and ends with the Door’s song “The End.” This directive choice highlights this song as having significance, or a message within the music.

"Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes again."

The second verse draws in components of a possible transcendence from a profane existence to the sacred order, coming to an end of everything that stands and all the plans made throughout life. Whether Jim Morrison was referring to a fall from grace or a transcending into it, the passing from the profanity of “everything that stands” in existence into what you believe to be “the end” is a transformation to the next line; “Can you picture what will be, so limitless and free.” This captures the escape from the cycle we have imagined for ourselves, a break from the chaotic order for a glimpse of paradise. This is seen in Apocalypse Now with the natural order ruling the river versus the attempt at a civilized order on the boat or at various crumbling docking ports.

In the next line, “desperately in need of some stranger's hand in a desperate land,” the men in the film all display a need for help reaching out for guidance among the chaos. They have found themselves “lost in a Roman wilderness of pain and all the children are insane” in the madness of the jungle, the loss of culture, and the darkness of war. The constructed order of civilization is lost, as seen through the development of this song and in the movie, and gives way to the power of nature.

His references to a snake, seven miles long draws direct connections to the wild and the holy significance of the number seven. God’s presence in nature is difficult to discern when thrown into a place of violent wilderness, creating a tension of who will win. The temptation of humans to primitively play God adds to this tension, trying to control aspects of life and death as seen in this film.