Hellishness And Expressionism In Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now

The purpose behind Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is to express the “hellishness and surreality of the Vietnam War” and its psychedelic effects on the sanity of the soldiers who fought. To further stress this theme of lunacy the director uses film elements in cinematography, sound and mis-en-scene. The director uses elements of expressionism by using low key lighting to help the demented character of Colonel Kurtz look more extreme in contrast to the other characters. He also uses the mixing of sounds to resemble the chaos in the midst of war, and uses costume and makeup to distort the character’s images and further accentuate his point of the madness brought up by war. Overall, the director incorporates these elements to help create

The use of this element is found near the end of the film when Willard first meets Kurtz. The shadows are so severe the audience can’t configure Kurtz’s face; the only things that are illuminated are his bald head and hands. Kurtz is the epitome of madness; his ruthlessness becomes indisputable once Willard reaches the outrageous chaos in Cambodia. Kurtz represents the worst case scenario of a soldier whose sanity has been corrupted by war. Kurtz explains that he wasn’t always evil, after inoculating the masses for polio and seeing all his work come undone by the genius who thought to cut off all their arms, he became inspired by the outrageous idea. The expressionistic lighting successfully reinforces his madness because although the film uses low key lighting on other characters, the lighting is so extreme when Kurtz is introduced; it makes it clear that his character is more extreme than all the other characters. Thus, His insanity is more extreme than other

When Willard is first introduced, his psychosis is prevalent as he mourns in his disheveled plain room, basically naked. His nakedness and the messiness of his room resemble his state of mind. The cause of his temporary madness: his abstinence from war. Likewise, Kurtz madness is illustrated by the havoc in his setting: Cambodia. The American photographer journalist explains to Willard that Cambodia is a reflection of Kurtz because he rules there and they are all his kids. This further proves Kurt’z madness, because the reflection of him is a manic society. Also, Willard’s companion Lance Johnson shows his developing madness through the use of makeup as the war progresses. In the beginning of the film he is clean. By the end of the film his face is covered in green war paint and he sticks the sticks thrown at them by the Cambodian people into his hair like antlers. This shows how the madness of the war has transformed him not only mentally, but