Inspired by Conrad’s novel “ Heart of Darkness ”, Apocalypse Now is one of the absolute masterpieces of world cinema. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1979 and starring Marlon Brando, the film Apocalypse Now won the Palme d’Or at the 32nd Cannes Film Festival and two Oscars in 1980 for best photography to Vittorio Storaro and for best sound to Walter Murch .
In addition to the famous Ride of the Valkyries, among the memorable scenes of the film, it is impossible to forget the monologue of General Kurtz, masterfully interpreted by Marlon Brando. The monologue, one of the most intense in the history of cinema, is a profound reflection on the horrors of war. Apocalypse now, Kurtz’s monologue
I have seen horrors, horrors that she has seen too. But you have no right to call me a killer. You have the right to kill me, you have the right to do this. But she has no right to judge me. It is impossible to find the words to describe what is needed by those who do not know what horror means. Horror has a face. And you have to be friends horror, horror, terror, morals and pain are your friends. But if they are not, they are enemies to be feared. They are real enemies.
I remember, when I was in the special forces, it seems like thousands of centuries ago, we went to a camp, to vaccinate some children. We left the camp after vaccinating the children against polio. Later an old man came running to call us back, he was crying, he was blind. We went back to the camp: the Vietcong had come and cut off every vaccinated arm. They were there in a heap. A bunch of little arms. And I remember that I cried, cried like a mother.
I wanted to pull my teeth out of my mouth, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it, I never want to forget it, I never want to forget it. Then I realized, as if I had been hit .. hit by a diamond, a diamond bullet in the forehead .. and I thought: my God, what a genius there is in this .. what a genius, what will to do this. .perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And so I realized that they were stronger than us, because they put up with it.
These were not monsters, they were men, trained cadres, men who fought with the heart, who have families who have children who are full of love but who… but they had the strength… the strength… to do this. If I had ten divisions of these men, our problems here would be resolved very quickly. It is necessary to have men with a moral sense, and who at the same time are capable of using their primordial instincts to kill without emotions, without passion, without discernment, without discernment.
Because it is the will to judge that defeats us. It worries me that my son may not understand what I have been trying to be. And if I get killed, Willard, I want someone to come over to my house and tell my son everything. Everything I’ve done, everything she’s seen. Because there is nothing I hate more than the stench of lies. And if she understands me Willard, she will do this for me.
