20 Years Later, I Finally Understand Apocalypse Now
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
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Correction: I meant Cambodia. Not Mongolia. Very American mistake 😂
I literally scrolled down to make this exact correction. Thanks, Jared!
Where people get their news and information is also ritualistic. Most establishment news media and journalists have become more committed to a belief than being honest about doing their jobs to inform society.
Independent media is slaying them because they are no longer trusted by society.
He would still be on the boat to this day if he had to go that far.
Willard was a United States Army Officer assigned MACV/SOG out of Na Trang, NOT an "American Operative" in Saigon. He was staying in a Sai Gon hotel on R&R.
Deflect the stupid to "american".
Just read Heart of Darkness. Sell the car, sell the house, sell the children, I am never coming back.
Heart of Darkness
2 men by the banks of
The Thames at Gravesend
East of London
Discussing Kurtz
One says to the other
'See that river...
It flows from here
All the way into
The Heart of Darkness'
@@user-jw3vy3kf5f exactly! 💯
I haven't heard the word "choad" for more than twenty years, but in this case it is the most apt word.
The show I Think You Should Leave uses it a lot.
Nowadays it’s just Chad.
@@user-dj6hu9gq4t Ha ha! Not a fan of Chad's, huh? I can empathise.
Imagine watching Apocalypse Now in all its 70 mm glory and someone complaining … about anything …
Ikr homeslice......🤣
It's crazy Martin Sheen was in this and then Charlie Sheen his son in Platoon.
...and they both parodied this in the 1991 comedy Hot Shots
Charlie Sheen only got that bag because of this
Platoon (1987) was shot less than ten years after Apocalypse (1979). Martin Sheen was in his mid-late thirties when he did AN, playing a character about 10 years younger (roughly late 20s). It will mess with your head if you think about it too much lol
I love you in Wall Street 👉
@@garycpriestley Nope. It was the 1993 parody Hot Shots 2.
What blew my mind was that for such a beautifully filmed movie the entire movie was shot blind. The Philippines had no professional film laboratories at the time that could process the film, so the raw camera negatives had to be shipped to the U.S. to be processed. Francis Ford Coppola never saw a shot on film until after returning to California.
I thought they were shipped to Italy for processing.
Weren't the films processed in Italy? The cinematographer wouldn't do the job otherwise?
the filming process is almost as interesting as the film itself. There's a great docu about it
He trusted his cinematographer. The making of the film had some real risks. Also read Fire In The Lake about the actual region and conflict of Vietnam. And the Ken Burns documentary. I love Coppola's film,
The apocalypse now was the friends we made along the way.
“the ritual comes first, the myth follows”. that is a great summation
I wonder about this.
If so, why does the ritual take the form that it does? From everything to midnight mass to the more extravagant offshoots of Pentecostal; they seemingly worship the same god, yet...
And especially for ritual to be established, it has to speak to something within the psyche. How do you get there without myth?
@@quintessenceSL the way i see it, if the ritual produces the desired result, then the need to codify it or explain it or to make it happen again needs some sort of grounding, if for no other reason than to have an origin story, so that the culture has a definite touchstone to know who to pray to
Research 'the raw and the cooked,' Levi Strauss, for his take on the idea
@@quintessenceSL When scientists force pigeons into boxes in labs with a slot that randoms openly to provide food the pigeon, not being able to go find food for itself doesn't know wtf to do with itself. Eventually, because it doesn't need to sleep or want to miss any food delivery it'll flap its wings right before the slot opens.
& from that instant on, it has convinced itself that its actions opened the slot & will continually flap its wings whenever the door is closed no matter how many times flapping its wings fails to open the door again.
You all should thank whatever Gods respond to _your_ wing-flapping that TV & the internet exist or you'd all still be in church every day asking God to provide y'all some sorts of distractions from trying to figure out which way you should face when brushing your teeth or eating eggs. You don't even _have_ wings.
But you all spend *WAY* too much time wondering when & how long to flap 'em. Wondering about Having Agency drives people insane. Ritual gives the illusion that we are not through One Agency, that we are doing it.
It's the Bystander Effect. We gather together, see the other monkeys all doing a thing, so it's not insane. Then a myth evolves to make it sane after the fact. Aren't you happy you understand that now? No? That's _why_ myth & ritual exist, because people *_don't_** want* to think about these things. But it's why totally vapid forms of entertainment enthrall us.
Find a single thing of any value in Star Wars. I dare you.
Exactly. Even today, every sports fan knows that. .. The ritual (Grandma walks in front of your TV set when your team is about to score) becomes myth (team scored, so it could be Grandma! Have her home for the next match!). The ritual "produced" magic. Science being the certification of those rituals that work every single time (i.e. bodies in motion tend to fall down).
Good analysis of one of my all time faves. I think the “redux” version with the original un edited sound track and the inclusion of the French colonial family is the best. Thanks!
So glad you noticed that, someone else here too, that makes three of us. A homage to the 1940's French story. for more Fire In the Lake a non-fiction book. And the Ken Burns documentary.
Mongolia? Wasn't he going to Cambodia?
Thats Cambodia Captain!! Thats Classified. But Thats Where Im going
The movie wasn't THAT long.
I was about to say, that one also had me a bit baffled before I realized he must have made a mistake XD
Mekong up to Cambodia I suppose would have been the correct one. XD
@@redryan20000 neither is that river LOL
Correct
I loved the movie's feeling of impending peril. Francis Ford Coppola was great at bringing realism to the cinema experience.
So Hyped for Megalopolis
Much risk in the making of that picture.
The ''Redux'' version has so much exposition and background for the film. It opens up the Captain Willard character, we are given a break from the weirdness of the original cinema release. It's an opium infused ''time out.'' for the audience.
The French plantation scenes are deeply personal and creepy, they seem to be the ghosts of imperialism still haunting Vietnam. After we sit with them and hear their family bickering, and fatuous claims on the land we're ready to continue up river and see what Kurtz has created in this hell scape.
ya and hanging out with the French lady would certainly have been some much needed RNR
I have it but haven't watched it yet.
YUP.
The directors has other bits
I rarely feel that way regarding extended versions, but I think the Redux doesn't offer much of worth - the main storyline is what's going on between Kurtz and Willard, to learn about the Playboy bunnies and the french colonialists still living their lives regardless of the war to me is not much more than additional 'weird' flavoring. It's indeed just scenes that feel like waiting for the actual storyline to continue, which in itself offers plenty of different looks, characters and situations. It's not the "another jungle patrol, another firefight, everything blurring together" kind of war movie after all, pretty much the opposite, more like a colorful road-movie, albeit filled with the horrors of war - so I personally never felt like I needed a "time-out" when watching this movie. The only thing that I can take from the plantation scene is perhaps a bit of reverse psychology - they ask Willard to fight the Vietkong essentially like Kurtz does: without remorse, basically like old colonialists, treating the VC as sub-human scum to eradicate; because obviously "Vietnam is their home". However, the weirdness and over-the-top colonialism in which this is presented - I would absolutely not expect this to click with Willard and have a lasting impression on him, if anything it might make Willard realize even more how pointless the whole war and the suffering is (of which he seems plenty aware in the standard version as well).
The movie uses these themes of descending to humanities primal state to show the major issues stemming from the vietnam war which was many us soldiers were not fully enthusiastic about being there and those who had adapted the deprived mentality to win were sent back soon after due to their time in service ending.
I also find it interesting how the idea of a sacred figure dying and being replaced is seen in politicians, athletes, actors, etc. Where they hav a golden period but are then replaced and sometimes harassed by paparazzi media.
Isn’t there a thing in Western culture about a god dying and coming back?
wisecrack just ain't the same without you buddy
For real. Wisecrack is pretty bad now.
I unsubscribed as soon as I found out.
I also stopped watching when he departed.
What exactly are people expecting of Wisecrack?
@@ConQuixote better content?
First movie I taped with my VCR back in 74. I watched this at least 200 times.
The part where Kurtz is reading "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot is also interesting. It's showing his dissatisfaction with his commanders whom he's broken from. By reverting to a primitive state where he takes orders from the jungle he no longer sees the wisdom or the reason of those he followed, in fact he seems disturbed by what he sees as their callous nature fighting the war. Unusual to say this, since we consider his methods either inhumane or insane, yet from his perspective they work. It seems psychotic he killed those intelligence officers who he believed to be spies, but he did and enemy activity dropped in his area.
Actually, Kurtz was a soldier who possessed clarity of purpose. He didn't get "primitive", he became focused. He stopped moralizing and became coldly mission focused. Leadership's problem with him was that they couldn't control him. His methods were effective but "unapproved". Think about this story about the inoculated arms. Remember, in the end, he knew the Army would come for him. He just wanted someone who would tell his son the truth about who he was - a soldier who was carrying out this mission.
I don't see any method at all, sir.
@@japhfo He changed his mind in them and. That's why he carried out Kurtz's request and then quit.
@@academicdeaneducation6671 It was a quotation. " Do you think my methods are unsound?"
@@japhfo I absolutely recognized the quote. Just noting Willard's transformation like we are sittin' in them barbershop talkin'. No doubt you've seen the film many times too. Amazing how this accidental masterpiece is still analyzed to this day.
Charlie don't surf.
Charlie don’t get much uso! Didn’t he say that too?
Very true ... Asians avoid the Sun and the Beach like I avoid Liver and Onions
@@JamesCotter-be4se and milk
Conrad is an amazing writer... highly recommended.
sure was. wrote in English, not even his first language. evocative AF. nautical!
Polish immigre to London
The Secret Agent
About a sexually dysfunctional
London detective
Chasing down a gang of anarchists
After a suicide bombing nearby The Greenwich Observatory
In the film adaptation
Played by Bob Hoskins
An Anarchist Suicide bomber
Played by
Robin Williams
Also the Golden Bough as noted here, and Tom and Huck on the river, one of the ten great plots.
This is exactly why the end of a film when we all waddle out into a shitty parking lot, maybe stopping for a piss on the way hurts so much!!! We have gone through something together and now we are all strangers again. I hate this.
hahah. welcome to America. did you notice the "In the Mouth of Madness" cut there? i watched it alone in an empty theater on a snowy winter night, the last showing of the day. the last scene is a guy alone in a theater. i will never forget the usher holding the door open for me to leave into the night.
I have seen all five endings, was glad for the REDUX.
Wait till your old and you have to piss 4 or 5 times in a movie, then you got to go back and see the movie again to see what you missed.
Good point. But if you are with friends then you wont feel this empty pit quite so sadly
Watching this discussion of the dying god/sacrificial king myth right after our elderly President stepped aside to let someone younger take charge is a pretty fun moment of synchronicity
hmmm... The thinking world watched a non-elected politician get replaced by another installation without public consent. What type of governance is this, anyways?
Just watched this video. Very thoughtful, interesting take on the material.
I first saw the film in the original release at the theatre, and then many times since in varying states of intoxication. In my humble opinion, the movie has nothing to do with myth or ritual. It was about how war necessitates the ripping away of civilization from the human spirit, shown in his journey up the Nung river, in order to access the primordial brutality and face the horror of his deeds. The grocery clerks who had sent Willard on his mission had no grasp of the horror both Kurtz and Willard had seen, and could not honestly judge Kurtz's actions because the warrior must discard judgement in order to become friends with the horror and moral terror demanded by war. Kurtz knew, as all warriors do, that death was always on his shoulder, and he didn't want the story of his life to be told by someone who had not faced the horrors, particularly to his son. In Willard he had found his perfect messenger, and he surrendered to the soldier's death as he had lived the perfect soldier's life. The army of his followers had been previously informed of his decision to die, and knelt in a silent salute to the man Kurtz had chosen as his executioner and messenger, because they had loved him, and they knew his pain had reached an end.
This is my current interpretation of the film, for what it's worth.
The movie is like Shrek, or an onion: it has layers. The mythic aspects are clearly part of it, as this video shows. It goes even further: Jim Morrison's lyrics to the song The End were were influenced by mythic stories, which are also the basis of The Golden Bough.
I had a very hard time putting into words what is going on behind the silver screen and you summarized it all so perfectly. Celebrities are the new gods, cinema is the new religion, and science is the new magic. We haven't evolved a bit, have we?
That bit about science; what's the implication there?
What is the lack of evolution regarding science and understanding reality as we can truly see it? From what Frazer said, it seems to be a really flawed outlook due to the seeming generalization he made. So I need my question answered if you don't mind.
Id replace cinema with social media now.
We have evolved our capabilities and capacities to a large extent. It's what those abilities are used *for* - who the Master is - that's the problem.
Socialism or Barbarism. It's looking more like the inevitable slide into the latter is starting to halt, albeit slowly, with the former spreading and gaining traction.
I'm cautiously optimistic. Hopeful, even.
Oh, did someone attack the gods of Science?
@@themajesticspider-man6116 Magic had a very specific purpose in ancient civilizations. It served as a connection between the known and the unknown, giving mankind some sort of understanding in a meaningless world. In modern society we look to science to explain the universe around us but science only gives us a vague definition of what and gives us no clue as to why. As a society we believe that if we understand the underlying principles it will give us an understanding as to why things are the way they are. Every time we seek to define a law as universal we find that there are always exceptions to every rule. The universe simply is; No laws will bind it, no constants will define it. It just is. Our best attempts of extrapolating meaning with science are just as good as the ancient method of defining the unknown as magic.
We don't get those type of screenings in my country... The horror, the horror...
I had read 'Heart of Darkness' as a young teen. My Dad was a literary agent and Mom was a voracious reader . We were encouraged to consume literature from an early age .
It just ain't that complicated Kids...
it isn't when you are "encouraged to consume literature from an early age"
when it's the opposite, then yes, picking up the habit of reading is complicated. Nowadays kids are encouraged to sit in front of a screen; attention span has decreased significantly; instant gratification is the norm; etc.
Don't blame it on the kids. It's neither merit of yours how you were brought up nor fault of theirs how they are being brought up.
Kids? FU
"The ritual comes first, the myth follows," reminds me of Robert Anton Wilson's "The thinker thinks what the prover proves," from Prometheus Rising.
That's such a great book for the really smart highschool weirdo. Like 25 years later, I still think about the angel stuck inside the robot, trying to get out.
During the Vietnam War there was an Australian Special Forces Officer who did have 1000 Montagnards under his command. The CIA actually did get rid of him because they felt he had too much power and influence. There is a book about Captain Barry Petersen called Tigermen whereby he documented his experiences during multiple wars.
@@LongWalkFilmstv if they got rid of him, how did he write a book?
Thank you for that. Sheer reminds me of a real gentleman who was there early on, he even looks like him, the famous rougish officer Landsdale. And the Golden Bough by Frazier is on Brando's book shelf in the later scenes. I am glad the French ghosts were added back also in the REDUX. Book Fire In the Lake and the Ken Burns documentary are worth your time. I have not seen the Spike Lee series that addresses combat of the era. Also not nearly as spectacular as Coppola's masterpiece, but Michael Caine in Graham Greene story The Ugly America is set in pre-American conflict, old Saigon, old OSS, old ghosts, it was a good picture. And I am sure you know Tom and Huck on the river is one of the ten great plot lines. Cheers. P.S. Here is a fun one, Dennis Hopper was in a film with James Dear back with haircuts 1950's a couple of those, then of course Easy Rider also on my movie fave list along with Coppola's masterpiece we are discussing. OK so Hopper was on The Carson show sober, clean cut again and in a suit. The brilliant comic noted and how leading man the actor looked and Hopper said "yeah my old man was in the CIA"......
That, was a beautiful piece of work. Loved it. Echoes my love of this film.
You are over-thinking this brilliant film. It's at the compound that Willard gets his questions answered (he'd been asking them as he read Kurtz's dossier). Remember, Willard was NOT the first person on his mission. Another person (Captain Colby) was sent but he actually JOINED Kurtz (he divorced his wife). Kurtz allowed Willard into the compound to find out if he could convince Willard to do TWO things for him. 1)Tell his son the truth about who he was (all written in his papers). 2)End his pain/command on HIS terms (derived from his understanding of the horrors he'd seen committed and that he'd committed himself as a SOLDIER).
Once Willard gained clarity ("you're an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill"), he recognized the lie he has been telling himself what HE was doing as a soldier and the insanity of trying to moralize/normalize what was being done. He also recognized that his true mission, the one Kurtz brought him there for, was to commit a mercy killing. Kurtz never wanted to face court martial by people he knew could never understand. He was a soldier and wanted to go out as such.
This movie is about a mercy killing, set during the Vietnam war. Everything else explains why this killing had to occur.
I agree it’s a soldier mercy killing another brother they are both traumatised by the greed of “war” which is filthy and insane in the goal of profit and power.
Men sending boys to do their cowardly bidding.
Men sending boys to do their cowardly bidding.
"the bullshit piled up so fast around here, you needed wings to stay above it"
Nah, it's super obvious that Apocalypse Now is referencing the Golden Bough story. From Ritual to Romance is also in Kurtz's library. The idea of the impotent Fisher King is also playing a part in the story. The Hollow Men poem actually read in the movie was originally part of The Waste Land, which references the Grail Myth and the Fisher King story.
Wow. So, in Elden Ring, a Finger Reader references to Godwyn as “The Golden Bough”. Godwyn the Golden was the firstborn son of Marika and Godfrey. His death was what precipitated the Shattering, the main historical event of the game lore. It’s what caused the Elden Ring to be broken into pieces and the lands to be in the divided state it’s in. But he doesn’t really die. Now, he lives on as some sort of undead curse hyperstructure. From the wiki
The living body, lacking a soul and unable to die a true death, transformed into an unrecognisable abberation, and became known as the Prince of Death. Deathroot sprouted from it, spreading across the Lands Between through the roots of the Erdtree, and giving rise to Those Who Live in Death.
If I could offer my own interpretation, I think Elden Ring might be saying that when we killed myth we broke our world, but those who still believe in myth are in some sense, dead. They do not live in this world
Again from the wiki
At least one Finger Reader Crone refers to him as a "sweet lordling", and refers to his death as "cruel" and "humiliating", suggesting he was at least somewhat cherished by those within the Golden Order, and that his death caused some amount of mourning.
I’m only 6 minutes into the video and I just feel like I got deeper insight to completely unrelated art. Thank you, Jared 😁
"... but those who still believe in myth are, in some sense, dead."
I just clicked on the video and have yet to see what made you write that, but you, for lack of a better term, 'opened' something in me and got me ol' thinking gears turning again. Thanks.
He was tired. That’s how I perceived it
He knew the Army would come for him because they couldn't control him (despite how effective he was at killing the enemy). He was tired of the lies and wanted his son to know the truth about who he was (a SOLDIER). The first guy sent to kill him (Captain Colby) actually joined him. The second guy, Willard, turned out to be the guy who, once he saw the truth, could be trusted to tell Kurtz's son the truth about who he was and let him go out like a soldier.
💯👍
He was dying. There was I think reference to him smelling sweetly. The water he kept pouring over his head was a result of this. I always thought he had maleria, because Kurtz in HoD was dying of maleria.
I always thought that in order to beat evil, he had to become more evil and the leaks stopped after he took care of business. But he was a moral man and a good soldier and could not live with what he did.
I do like this Golden Bough addition though. It explains all the tribal stuff, which never made any sense to me.
Excellent summary. Your narrative voice is exceptional as well, thanks
I really love your movie analysis videos!
Apocalypse is a timeless, ageless masterpiece from every angle.
Another Magnificent movie in this vein is Herzog’s
Aguirre the wrath of God. A similar fun boat trip that chronicles a slow descent into madness.
Seeing Apocalypse Now in 70mm on the big screen is a pleasure. Nothing like it!
Glad to see your viewership numbers are finally getting close to what you deserve bro. Been following you since you started the channel and back in the wisecrack days, which has significantly gone downhill in your absence. Just want to say thank you for keeping all of our intellectual caps on and always enjoy, your content
I really needed this video back in 2000. Would have made my college lit class easier to understand.
Good stuff, but... Willard did not assemble the boat crew. He "hitchhiked" upriver on a PBR, with the crew already in place.
I mean, academic film criticism has been citing the golden bough, the divine comedy, and ts eliots the wasteland as the literary scaffolding for this movie since it was released in the 70s.
@@Si-Horrocks this is my first time hearing about it….what was the landmark text that mentions it?
very possible, but who actually reads academic film criticism?
@@LonkinPork film students
How does it relate to Heart of Darkness? I’ve heard the movie is based on that book. Is that true?
@@TacticsTechniquesandProcedures broadly, it's a fairly free adaptation. Fun fact, Kurtz has "The Golden Bough" by Fraser and "From Ritual to Romance" by Weston on his book shelf. You see it when Willard makes his final stalk thru the compound.
Also while Fraser may have been a founding father of comparative mythology, his notions have been, if not discredited, surpassed by more recent scholarship.
Is it something in Finnish air? You seem to go through one awakening after another! We really need to clear our minds like you do! )))
1:45ish Willard did not go to Mongolia, it was Cambodia. Great video doc! Thank you.
I can't believe I never got around to watch this movie. I'm almost 40...
Dude?
Probably one of the five most significant movies of the 70s. I stopped caring about the Oscars when Apocalypse Now lost best picture to ... Kramer versus Kramer.
Excellent video -- like always. I'd love to hear your take on how the film reconciles its descent into humanity's primal ritualistic foundations with its critique of American imperialism in the Vietnam War in particular. What's interesting to me is that Kurtz sheds the mythological trappings of his American militarism, and in so doing becomes the ultimate warrior. The Americans want him exterminated not because he "switches sides", but because there's something offensive about the fact of his existence as a part of the American war effort. Robert Duvall's character they can love and embrace. Even the insanity they encounter along the way is all tolerated -- but not Kurtz. Does this signify that the imperialist war machine can tolerate and internalize madness, insanity, brutality, savagery and bloodlust, but wants to disown its own primordial ritualistic foundations? That it can contain everything, except the true existential "horror" of its own shadow? Keep your videos coming -- I look forward to every one of them!
Brilliant analysis, Jared. Thanks for drawing upon the insights of Frazier's GOLDEN BOUGH as it informs both Heart Of Darkness and Apocalypse Now!
Yes, it is on the bookcase in the Brando scene. Also, actor Martin Sheer is well cast.The letter in the boat gives a notion of it all starting in the 1940's and they added back the French ghosts. The REDUX is great. I went to the premier in NYC and have seen all five endings. Also Tom and Huck on the river is one of the ten plots.
One of my all time favorites! Thank you for such a refreshing and thorough analysis.
What you mentioned about humanity abhorring uncertainty...that's where "overthinking" comes in. The urge to put together a coherent picture based on limited information...that turns out to be almost always wrong. I have run into this time and again where the person I am trying to communicate with withholds information...then, they get upset because I've misinterpreted them. Morale of the story...BE COMPLETE in your information or don't give any at all. It's human nature to fill a void.
Chaos Magick but actually it is probability a MATH beyond most of us.
At 1:35 "to travel up the river to Mongolia"
Did I hear that right?
Jared !!!!! I Freaking Love your Content!!! - I'm so happy to see your Content again!
As a 72, yo now, I was up for the draft in 1970. I wasn't called but friends were. In 1976, I was in an English lit class were we read and focused on "Heart of Darkness" for half of the time of that class. So I was prepped when the film came out. My brother-in-law who had survived Vietnam as the last original member of the platoon he had led (173rd Airborn), dismissed "Apocalypse Now," as an unrealistic abstraction. But he hadn't read, "Heart of Darkness." However, as he grew older, the thing became more clear to him. I've had a copy of Frazier's "Golden Bough" for 30 years.
Practical military necessity.
Very well done. Look forward to all the rest you have shared and more
Most realistic incredible war movie ever made period..With Willard in the hotel room at the start of openin scene waiting on a mission and Martin Sheen having a total personal nervous breakdown shot on camera insane acting brilliant ..Saigon Shit !
Nice take on AN! Loved film since Jr high (mid '80s) and I am getting a copy golden bough right now! That , I think, is the measure of true art; that it continually challenges and changes perception over time! Thanks again for fresh insight!
At 1:36... "Cambodia" is what we were looking for. Mongolia is a hell of a boat trip through all of SE Asia and China. Otherwise, great insight. Glad of what you're building here apart from Wisecrack.
That's classified😎
For someone that 'finally understands' the movie they sure made a few glaring mistakes which leaves me to believe they don't understand the film at all, just the books the charcters read.
Apocalypse Now only reflects Coppola's fictionalized "man's inhumanity to man" version of the Vietnam war.
Nothing like that came even close to being realistic.
Part of the problem with these themes is if you back before agriculture and herding, people lived pretty egalitarian lives.To the point where almost anyone in history given the opportunity preferred to live among hunter gatherers (whether they were hunter gatherers given the choice to live lives as European royalty, or lost westerners taken in by hunter gatherers and later "rescued", in either case, *they always ran away to live with the hunter gatherers*...note this does NOT apply to any tribes ONLY those whose food acquisition method was completely restricted to hunting gathering).
Foragers had war but it was so small itd be more comparable as "handful of guys fighting to death" like medieval tourneys. Stuff like slavery, inheritance, the subjugation of women, and even rulers/chiefs with any power to compel, are all virtually absent among Hunter-gatherers wherever and whenever we seem to find them (or evidence of them). The only exceptions are once planting, animal keeping or certain types of fishing are introduced. There is nothing like organized religion or sacrifices.
Hunter gatherers are still people, of course, they get in fights, have conflict etc. But most of our "primal" urges are actually later introductions due to the concept of property that arises when labor is put into a piece of land or beast which must then take time to come to fruition. And once you have property you can have inequality and castes, ie slave/worker vs owner/soldier, then the desire to pass inheritance + the need to produce your own workforce = subjugation of women as a means of production (hunter gatherers use family planning to limit average birth to every 5 yrs per woman because like in the industrial era, children are a luxury you dont need them for work but they must be fed, moreover you have no beasts of burden so you cant really have a baby til the 1 in your arms can walk 20 miles a day....while pre-industrial farmers/herders its every 18 mos because children are a farmers main, sometimes only, workforce so its even "worth it" to lose women in childbirth.)
So yea maybe they need to go even further up that "river" as it were.
Son, when you grow up I don't want you to be a just another hunter-gatherer like your old man-mom. I want you to make something of your life.
Whatever it takes, you're going to go to college.
Did you type this out in the wild with no electricity? Put your money where your mouth is and actually do it!😉
And I think you forgot to factor in the infant mortality rate. The primitives breed like rabbits..
There be dragons.
Fantastic review. The best I have watched about this masterpiece of cinema. Well done and thanks !
Speaking of Elden Ring, every time you say "Golden Bough" I immediately think of "Golden Vow" the Incantation/Ash of War lol.
Great analysis Jared! Man, the cinematography in Apocalypse Now is immaculate! I just wonder why that title was chosen when on itself is a reverence to the Book of Revelations. Maybe it's because in times of war, it's always "the end of times" for the affected parties?
When I saw AN, I was keenly aware of it's surrealistic and anti war undertones. When I went into the army I found a lot of people admiring AN, but for all the wrong reasons. T.S. Elliot's 1925 poem The Hollow Men mentions (Mistah) Kurtz. The same Kurtz from Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and essentially the same Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. There are two groups of people in this world: The first group thinks Dennis Leary is talking about himself when he sings "I'm an a**-hole" and the second group knows he is talking about the people in the first group.
I think you mean Dennis Hopper.
@@alomaalber6514 Welcome to the first group.
This movie was old when I failed to understand it 35 years ago. Keep the faith, man 😀
I thought when it got meta, that you would go Edward Said's way of describing the myth that is orientalism and how it manifests as ritual in conrad's book, which is still reflected in the movie in my opinion. any thoughts?
great video!
This film and the books it is based on truly helped me understand why I am so consumed by such tempered, refined, brutal, and supremely focused evil, indeed to my very core. Illuminating the nightmare fueled monster that I see in the mirror every day
Intelligently fascinating, thank you for this content. Subscribed.
Amazing analysis Jared, you are really inspiring (because of your comprehension and your ability to communicate it so perfectly) . That's a deep dive into some of humanity's origin story. Wish you all the best
Great analysis. My other takeaway of the film and the book is that as a society we consider a renegade individual most skillfully achieving the stated goals of our state to be a psychopath and a degenerate, while still viewing ourselves as civilized.
2:11 The graffiti on the wall in the background says *Our Motto: Apocalypse Now*
Nice piece of work. I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention John Milius, who came up with the idea for the story, and showed that he had the interest and the ability to turn history into cinema with mythological foundations.
Mt. Everest is on the bedside table of “Marylin” in Intolerable Cruelty. Which perfectly explains the Tenzing Norgay reference. Every Hilary has a Willard.
This is my first experience with your channel. I am impressed. I am feeling thoughtful and can't say much more. I am satiated. Thank you!
My new favorite channel 🙏🏽
Welcome to the fold.
A very interesting and excellent analysis thank you!!
You should probably give a nod to John Milius, the actual writer of the screenplay for Apocalypse Now
I was so stoked when the UA-cam algorithm gods seemingly randomly suggested one of your videos, years after you had left WC. It's great to have you back, Jared!
a lot of soldiers were killed by tigers in those valleys Thay got real used to human blood
And now tigers are extinct in both Vietnam and Cambodia. So much has changed since that war.
Yes, the book is set in the Congo but there actually were missions up the river to take out rogue members of the military during Vietnam. Don't expect to see a movie about it though.
The magical power of philosophers is stating the obvious with an air of great importance
If it was obvious, there wouldn't be so much controversy. And people wouldn't have so much trouble with the things that put into question or even disprove that which they thought was obvious.
I saw this movie at the theater on the air force base i was stationed at in 1980. I went on to watch it on Betamax probably no less than 50 times. then watched the Redux probably 10 times in the 90s. It is a masterpiece like no other. The documentary "Hearts of Darkness" is almost as good as the movie itself. Also while stationed in the Philippines i traveled up river on an old PT boat to the place it was filmed that was maintained as a tourist destination, complete with bodies hanging from trees
Absolutely love this channel and you from your Wisecrack days. I wish you could analyse some anime sometimes, particularly Pain from Naruto.
I recently read a book a book about the Mi Li Massacre and its aftermath. The main thing I took from it was that in the brutality of war men and woman can loose their moral compass leading to unthinkable behavior. I feel that Apocalipse Now captures this better than any other Vietnam film.
Dude, you did a fantastic job. Been a Frazer freak for many decades, but overlooked him in this film.
1. There has never been a more perfect pairing of movie opening and music than the use of the Doors, "The End"
2. The Apocalypse Now of the title would be the Arclight called in on the compound at the end.
3. I saw this in its original release at the base theater in Osan AB Korea, 1979 or '80. Usually after a movie lets out there is a whole lot of chatter as we all file out. After this one, the audience was silent. A whole lot of them went down to the bowling alley, still open that late and still serving beer.
4. A most excellent parody of this, well worth watching, "Pork Lips Now". A man is sent deep into Chinatown to terminate the operations of a renegade butcher, Mertz, who is selling pork lips for seven cents a pound.
John Milius (screenwriter) is likely the vehicle tying Conrad, the Golden Bough and the story set in Vietnam, all together.
"Subbed! Glad to see you again!" Me: a classic Wisecrack watcher
Also:
"Kill the beast while he is wounded!" The Chronicles of Riddick
"If it bleeds, it can be killed" Predator
The left brain creates the causality/control mechanisms, the right brain creates the reactionary dance and story.
I was at the NYC premier and have seen all five endings. The Redux was nice also. Tom and Huck on the river and Brando reading the Golden Bough, glad you noted that book! Also, the conflict started earlier than most know, In REDUX he added back the french ghosts! Also, read Fire In The Lake, and the Ken Burns documentary.
I've read The Golden Bough. I know of the priest who protects the tree of Diana, and how one becomes the priest. Missed this though. 🤦♂️ Thanks. Magnificent film.
Excellent video of my favorite movie. Nice catch on the Golden Bough.
You've inspired me to reread The Golden Bough. Thanks, and have a great day!
You missed the fact that this was more of a mashup of Heart of Darkness and Dispatches. The second is the basis for many of the scenes encountered going up river. Dispatches was written by a journalist, Michael Herr, and documents his experiences as a war correspondent for Esquire. The bridge scene is directly out of Dispatches.
I eagerly wait for videos!! They are amazing... very thought provoking.
A good read is Joseph Conrad's biography. Heart of Darkness was autobiographical. Conrad actually captained a river boat up the Congo to deliver supplies and collect ivory. There was a real life Mr. Kurtz, described in horrifying detail. Conrad quit after one round trip.
I started reading the Golden Bough two years ago. The science/nature thing is perfectly encapsulated in the mythology and ritual surrounding "vaccination." Thank you again for helping me to organize my thoughts on the subject(s).
Favorite war movie, Jared has an interesting interpretation of the philosophy and meaning of the classic.
Good Day. I've seen Apocalypse Now dozens of times, also Eyes Wide Shut often too. 2 Excellent movies. Your review & deeper descriptions are very good. Thank You & Best Regards. I have subscribed.
Eyes Wide Shut is garbage. Kubrick tarnished his legacy, but succeeded in proving he was a warped, sexual degenerate.
Very cool to see this described as a representation of the 'dying god', which I'd not heard about before but I can see it now in many stories. Do you see a similar parallel in Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés overthrowing Aztec ruler Moctezuma II, with little resistance?
This is not the first time I've heard reference to The Golden Bough and its relationship to the film, as Coppola mentioned it himself. When the movie first came out, I read an interview he did with Rolling Stone and he had an extended discussion about the influence of the book to the final act of the film, and explained its appearance among Kurtz's personal effects. I was intrigued and actually read it (the abridged version which is typically available in book stores --- not sure I could withstand reading the whole 7-8 volumes of it). A tediously boring read, but the parallels were clear, and Coppola himself said it was an inspiration. I haven't heard it mentioned much since then.
Apocalypse now was one of those Late Friday night, early morning movies that was always playing in the background..... it reminds me very much of my early childhood and was certainly one of those movies that spawned my interest in all things military.
Yes. 'Apocalypse' in the original Greek means 'revelation'- the disclosure of meaning by or through a god. Kurtz is the god, revelator and sacrifice- you got it. Willard is western man. All yin and no yang- ain't nothin' but a thang. A cog in the machine. An unknowing and atomized agent moving through the material world, unconsciousness and out of touch with his soul. Ted the K figured it out...Kurtz is Willard's 'mission'- not a military one, but a religious or spiritual one: 'I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one.' Here are the cycles. Here is the holly and the oak. This is how one restores the harmony and brings the balance back- 'Bring it back!'. Here is the shadow between the thought and the act, the skull and bones... All in black and out of the water he comes- primordial. One end of the invisible rainbow, like the end point of a fired 5.56 round- a trajectory fulfilled. On the other end sits McNamara with a slide rule and a calculator.
Brilliant analysis! You made me think about something I wasn't expecting today. Thank you!
Outstanding presentation 👍🏻
Going from Vietnam to Mongolia would be one hell of a long trip!