In Francis Ford Coppola's classic film Apocalypse Now, United States Army Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent on a mission that officially does not exist, to terminate a man who shouldn't exist: Colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando). According to General Corman, who orders the mission, Kurtz has lost his mind and is operating, "Totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct." The Army charges Colonel Walter Kurtz with murder for killing three South Vietnamese citizens who were collaborating with the Communist Vietcong. In fact, the Army wants Kurtz dead because he has gone mad and has established his own private army in Cambodia. With the aid of hard-core surfer Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), Capt. Willard begins his journey up the Nung River on a Navy patrol boat crewed by some rather odd fellows including Chef, Clean, and a famous Californian surfer named Lance. The rest of the film follows Capt. Willard and crew as they travel the Nung River up to Cambodia where Willard has his fateful meeting with Col. Kurtz.

One theme that permeates Apocalypse Now is the characters' pursuit of self-interest. In fact, the

As Captain Willard and the crew begin to go upriver, we witness the men indulging in their respective vices. Captain Willard takes to refilling his canteen with whiskey. In one scene, Chef, Clean, and Lance smoke a joint. Later that evening Chef, who has post-marijuana munchies, takes Willard with him into the jungle to pick mangoes, where the two are attacked by a tiger. Chef and Willard high tail it out of the jungle, firing their M-16s while running back to the patrol boat. Once safely aboard, Chef flips out and begins yelling that he is never getting out of the boat again. In a voice-over, Captain Willard remarks, "Never get out of the boat. Absolutely god damn right. Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole fuckin' program."

So, who is the good guy, and who is the bad guy? Coppola clearly intended Kurtz to be the good guy. As Capt. Willard proceeds up the Nung River, Coppola gives the audience background information on Kurtz through intelligence reports read by Willard. We learn that Kurtz was a rising star within the Army. Willard states, "He was being groomed for one of the top positions in the corporation." However, Kurtz joined the Special Forces, giving up all chances for promotion, went to Vietnam, and went mad. The Army created Frankenstein's monster then sends Willard to clean up after them. Clearly the Army represents evil, while Kurtz is the unfortunate by-product of the Army's machinations. Kurtz is the typical good-guy turned evil.

The message Coppola is trying to send in this film is relatively simple; evil exists in many shapes, sizes, and forms, yet it is not always easy to discover. Some evils are entrenched in bureaucracies, others hidden deep w

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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)