Movie Notes: Hearts Of Darkness

August 22nd, 2008

= 4 stars

Starring Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall
Directed by George Hickenlooper, Fax Bahr, Eleanor Coppola

Synopsis

Documentary chronicling the chaotic creation of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic Vietnam war movie.

The Good

• Some might say the most passionate art results from conflict and suffering, and this documentary finds ample evidence in the filming of Apocalypse Now. The list of now-legendary setbacks comes across like driving rain: the script had no ending, a hurricane destroyed many expensive sets on location in the Philippines, star Harvey Keitel was replaced with Martin Sheen after shooting, Sheen — abusing drugs and his body — suffered a heart attack, and Marlon Brando showed up on set grossly overweight and insisted on rewriting the ending. In total, it’s frankly amazing the movie was even completed.
• I was really surprised to learn that Apocalypse Now’s beginning and ending were essentially improvised:
• The opening scene of Willard (Sheen) drunk out of his mind in a humid, Saigon hotel room was real, in the sense that Sheen was literally drunk out of his mind, infuriated at Coppola, and fighting personal demons. During filming, Sheen punched a mirror and lacerated his hand, but insisted Coppola continue filming as he flipped out, crying, and smearing blood on the sheets while completely naked.
• The film’s ending was similarly off-the-cuff, as Brando showed up on set after the entire film was shot, overweight, and having not read the book (Heart Of Darkness) or the script. Still, he didn’t like the ending Copploa had in mind, and decided to embark on a rewrite forcing the entire production to a standstill. After several wasted days of trying to write something better, Coppola decided to film Brando improvising monologues — in near darkness to cover his bloated body — and work it all out in editing.

The Bad

• Makes no sense unless you’ve seen Apocalpyse Now.

Conclusion

Apocalypse Now is one of my favorite movies and it was well worth seeing this documentation of how it nearly fell apart. Knowing the challenges Coppola faced only reaffirms my love for the end result — he went to hell and back, and miraculously returned with a masterpiece.

IMDB: Hearts Of Darkness
Wikipedia: Hearts Of Darkness
Rotten Tomatoes: Hearts Of Darkness