APOCALYPSE NOW

“The horror… The horror…”
Colonel Kurtz

english below

Tijdens het hoogtepunt van de Vietnamoorlog wordt U.S. Army Captain Willard op een missie gestuurd die officieel “does not exist – nor will it ever exist”. Willard moet de losgeslagen kolonel Walter Kurtz opsporen en elimineren. Hij volgt Kurtz’ spoor via de Mekong rivier naar zijn uitvalsbasis in de jungle van Cambodja.

De shoot van de film was een beproeving voor alle betrokkenen. De hopeloosheid van de Vietnamoorlog leek de cast en crew ook in de making-of te volgen. “APOCALYPSE NOW is the best Vietnam film, one of the greatest of all films, because it pushes beyond the others, into the dark places of the soul. It is not about war so much as about how war reveals truths we would be happy never to discover”, noteerde Roger Ebert. APOCALYPSE NOW rijgt de ene memorabele scène na de andere aan elkaar, met de riviertocht als rode draad. Die helse rit werd door Coppola’s echtgenote Eleanor vastgelegd in de docu HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER’S APOCALYPSE (1991), ook op ons programma in oktober.

APOCALYPSE NOW is deel van OPEN CINEMA, OUR CINEMA, een epische, niet te missen marathon van jullie drie meest gekozen favoriete films.

ENG
The film is in English/French/Vietnamese with English subtitles

During the height of the Vietnam War, U.S. Army Captain Willard is sent on a mission that officially “does not exist – nor will it ever exist”. Willard has to find the renegade Colonel Walter Kurtz and eliminate him. He follows Kurtz’s trail across the Mekong River to his outpost deep in the Cambodian jungle.

The shoot of the film was an ordeal for all parties involved. The hopelessness of the Vietnam War seemed to follow the cast and crew into the making-of as well. “APOCALYPSE NOW is the best Vietnam film, one of the greatest of all films, because it pushes beyond the others, into the dark places of the soul. It is not about war so much as about how war reveals truths we would be happy never to discover”, noted Roger Ebert. APOCALYPSE NOW strings together one memorable scene after the other, with the river journey as its common thread. That hellish journey was captured by Coppola’s wife Eleanor in the documentary HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER’S APOCALYPSE (1991), also on our programme in October.

APOCALYPSE NOW is part of OPEN CINEMA, OUR CINEMA, an epic, must-see marathon of your three most frequently chosen movies.