Apocalypse Now: the dehumanization of American soldiers in the VietnamWar
his own mind and accepting his own evils. This idea is strengthened when Willard steps out in front of Kurtz’s followers and they kneel to him, sensing the heart of darkness within him and becoming his followers. Even Lance kneels, becoming integrated within the tribal community. This is shown even before they arrived at the temple as Lance performed a spiritual dance that looks remarkably similar to Willard’s drunken dance at the beginning of the film. This dan ce is also performed by an American at the temple who we can assume was the last man sent to kill Kurtz. Could it be that this dance is a representation of the completion of their dehumanization? If so, that would amplify the point I made earlier concerning Willard already being past that point right at the beginning of the film. The spirituality and symbolism in Apocalypse Now is hard to ignore and so, although I don’t believe Coppola had this whole idea thought out in his head before production started, I believe that, during the 16 months of filming, these ideas and themes came to fruition. This is a very spiritual and almost supernatural take on the story, but its symbolic nature doesn’t make this film an inaccurate portrayal of how it really felt to be in Vietnam. Many soldiers who fought in the Vietnam war and other wars regard Apocalypse Now as one of themost truthful adaptations of how it really feels to be in a war zone. This film brilliantly presents how war brings about the dehumanization of men as they journe y further into the depths of man’s own evil.
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