Wars, strife, helicopters swept through the dust, and the fire burned non-stop. It was hell in the eyes of others, but for Captain Willard, it became a place he wanted to go back to.
"When I was on the battlefield, I wanted to go home. When I was at home I thought about going back to the forest. ”
Far from the battlefield but eager for a task, it seems that combat has become a kind of sustenance for his survival. The "wild dance" in the room, the downturn ... There is no description of the battlefield, but through Willard's actions it is enough to feel the horrors of war, which turns a young young man into a "madman".
The battle is such a horror. War, whether right or wrong, good or evil, reason will eventually be destroyed by the rapid changes of life and death. Everyone seems to be "crazy". Helicopters in the air were fighting, and soldiers on the waves were happily standing on surfboards. They don't worry about the end of their lives in the next second, aren't they afraid? They are afraid, they are afraid, but they have long lost the ability to relax, and the extreme battlefield makes everyone's emotions go to the extreme. It seems that only madness is the way to escape everything.
There are no excessive battle scenes, nor excessive bloody shots, but everyone's behavior is enough to make people feel the serious damage caused by the battle. Everyone is a victim of this war. They are accustomed to numbness, indifference, and ruthlessness, and they have long learned to hide their emotions in war. Mercy and compassion bring nothing. They are accustomed to the moment of life and death. They became all over the place, and the whimpering of a puppy on a ship would also make them nervous, and the bullets swept through the field. Even in the face of the death of a teammate, the unconscious mind is only thinking about the lost puppy.
What exactly did the war bring? More wealth? The progress of civilization? The world moving forward? It doesn't seem to be.
"Apocalypse Now" never tries to make the audience reflect from the blood and violence of war, but lets us feel the story of everyone who is in war, giving us space to think. There is no boundary between good and evil, but can good triumph over evil? Nothing is fixed.