A great man, having traveled too deep into the jungle and torn away too much of his own psyche, has a virtual army to do his bidding.  His decreasing level of sanity paradoxically engenders an even more fanatical following, and despite not knowing how to complete his journey, he knows he must see it through to the end.  That was the psychopathic Colonel Kurtz of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, but it’s also Coppola himself as he made the film.  Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse is a meticulous look at the project that was potentially the director’s psychological, financial, and physical undoing.

CRITIQUE

Try moving your family to the squelching heat and humidity of the Phillipines for months at a time, trying to make a film that will follow up the wildly successful Godfather.  Things are taking a long time—much longer than you planned, and the million dollar advance given to a guy who’s only supposed to appear in a few scenes (Marlon Brando) might amount to absolutely nothing.

Moreover, you’ve got the Filipino army to do you a favor and lend you (not cheaply!) some helicopters and pilots for a more than a few incredibly elaborate scenes.  But oops, those damn rebels are at it again and the helicopters get called away, forcing you to stop shooting.  And again.  And again.  At least that gives you some more time to write the end of your screenplay, which you currently don’t have.

Furthermore, it’s hurricane season, so your set is wiped out completely at one point, forcing a total stoppage of work.  Hey, at least Brando finally decided to show up, right?  Too bad you find out that he’s never read Heart of Darkness, the book that Apocalypse Now is based on, and doesn’t want you to make his fat ass look, well, fat.  This is enough to give you a heart attack, but it’s your star (Martin Sheen) who suffers one in the middle of shooting instead.

Did I mention that this project has long since reverted to being on your dime since it’s so over budget, and that you’ve had to mortgage your house to keep going?

Welcome to Francis Ford Coppola’s nightmare.  Actually, make that his obsession.  If the making of Apocalypse Now had merely been a nightmare, it might have been abandoned, or more likely never made at all.  Some vintage footage from on the set illuminates Coppola’s state of mind:  It wasn’t ego driving this man, it was fear.  Fear of being pretentious, of trying to create something worthwhile but failing.  Throughout Hearts of Darkness, despite the incredible cinematography and story, we hear Coppola’s thoughts that the movie was terrible, and would only get worse as they went on.

Thank goodness for his wife Eleanor, the family documentarian and narrator of the tale.  Apocalypse Now is an incredible film any way you look at it, but would it have even finished had she not been there?  Even decades later, the calm, smooth voice delivers every new trial the film set faced with detached serenity.  As the project clearly sapped the director’s mental and physical strength bit by bit, it seems clear (though not explicitly said) that Eleanor prevented her husband from hitting rock-bottom.

Much like Apocalypse Now, Hearts of Darkness is about far more than its subject matter.  As we join Martin Sheen in his quest to assassinate a madman in the jungle, we see human nature, how it clings to order, how it may embrace chaos.  In this film, we see more than a movie being made.  There’s the struggle against commercialism, the drive to create, and the inner battle that is the artistic process made manifest.

THE VIDEO

Hearts of Darkness is presented in 1.33:1 full screen.  Scenes from Apocalypse Now look beautiful, while documentary footage is obviously nowhere near the same quality having been shot from the hip.

THE AUDIO

Hearts of Darkness is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround.  Subtitles in English, French, and Spanish are optional.  Again, the older footage isn’t great in this respect, but at least Eleanor Coppola’s narration is clear.

EXTRAS

Francis and Eleanor Coppola provide a full length audio commentary for the film, which is a nice addition, but the major extra included is Coda: Thirty Years Later (62 minutes).  In this mini-documentary, Eleanor follows Francis in Romania on the set of Youth Without Youth (set for a December 14 release in the USA).  The newer project is as independent as its director, but can’t really capture the same chaotic spirit of Apocalypse Now.

FINAL THOUGHT

Engrossing and instructive.