Apocalypse Now Opening Analysis


Themes: Evil, Power, Colonialism, Chaos vs Order, Corruption 



The opening of Apocalypse Now conveys the idea that our lead protagonist is a tortured man through different elements of film making. For example the editing of the man's face fading in out of the fire combined with the fire in the background could be symbolic of how the conflict he was involved with was traumatic and hell like. It could also represent how he is a more antagonistic lead, which represents a change seen introduced by New Hollywood movies. The close up shot on his face almost makes it look like his face is on fire, almost as if he is being consumed by his past sins. The fading effect of the editing added with the slow rock music gives the scene a hallucinogenic feel, which may be referencing how many Vietnam soldiers took drugs to cope with effects of war. 

Furthermore, the sound of the opening creates a feeling of dread. For example, the first lyrics of the song heard are "this is the end" gives the idea that that Apocalypse Now will feature a lot of dead because it is a war movie and they stereotypically feature a lot of death. This gives the word "end" new connotations of death and destruction. Furthermore the sounds of the helicopter blends together with the sound of the fan. This could symbolise how Willard cannot separate his normal life from the jungle. This highlights Willard's mental instability and torment caused by the war. This suggests that Willard could have PTSD. This is also an example of how more tortured, interesting, morally grey characters were introduced in the New Hollywood era, which Apocalypse Now was a part of.

To add to that Willard's body language towards the end of the scene has multiple layers to it. In the scene his movement seems unfocused and erratic, almost as if he is weak. This could be referencing his weakness after fighting in war. This once again symbolises how war has affected his life. Also in the same scene he has blood on his hands after punching the mirror. This can represent a few different things. It could depict how Willard has grown to hate the image of himself he has become, being a unstable, alcoholic killer. The blood on his hands could symbolise his guilt and remorse for the people he has killed and also could depict how he cannot leave that mentality. Lastly him wiping the blood on his face could symbolise how he, as the film goes on, embraces his lifestyle of murdering people.




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