Apocalypse Now: Opening Scene


Apocalypse Now: Opening Scene


Francis Coppola’s famous film “Apocalypse Now” has a peculiar opening scene where the audience meets the main character in an innovative way; a man who had suffered the effects of the war and didn’t know where he belonged anymore.

The film opens up with a still framing, showing the palm trees of Vietnam with the helicopter as a background sound that increases when it appears on camera. The non diegetic music starts playing, mixing itself with the helicopters until the big explosion where the singer starts singing. This time, the camera starts moving and shows the effects of the explosions and the remaining fire on the trees. For a moment, there is no visual clarity due to the smoke, but it soon disperses and another helicopter appears once again in camera.
The main character is then shown for the first time and the audience meet Colonel Kurtz in an unusual way. He is upside down and is not centered as it would be expected. His eyes go from side to side as if he were confused or unsure of where he is and his image is combined with the palm trees on fire, (which gives a hint of the war and chaos theme) and helicopters flying around. Interestingly, the image of war fades for a second and it is replaced by a ceiling fan that simulates a helicopter through the sound. This moment can be considered as Kurtz introducing the audience to his reality and the inside of his head. There is a lot of confusion and it is hard to distinguish how much of the sound is diegetic and how much is in his head; what is real and what it isn’t. For a small moment Kurtz, the fan and the helicopter are shown on screen, a rare thing to see on a film as it could be considered disorienting, but it matches the characters feelings and emotions perfectly.
It then transitions to a more near shot of the jungle being burned down, with Kurtz in the same position on one side of the screen and with a new prop on the other side. The Buddha statue represents self awareness and peace, which is totally the opposite of what is being shown of the war. Kurtz disappears from the screen and the helicopter is the main focus once again, which links to the fan through the sound, making the audience question what is real and what is not. With the war still present and the background sound not changing, Kurtz’s shot is replaced by the image of the hotel room he is staying at. The other images then disappear and just show the alcohol, cigarettes and the gun so nearby his sleeping self. This time the helicopter sound gets louder than the band playing but shows the ceiling fan, once again making the audience wonder what is real and what is in the main character’s head. Kurtz seems disoriented as we start in the jungle and end in his hotel room, slowly getting back to reality when he wakes up. Curiously, the last thing to stop is the background sound of the helicopter as it gets louder until it fades away, linking everything in Kurtzs’ mind.

The opening of this film presents the main character in such a different way and gives a lot of information about him at the same time. Without Colonel Kurtz speaking we learn that he is somewhat traumatised, disoriented and that his reality is not clear anymore. We learn this with the help of the iconography (the fan and the helicopter) and the editing that mixed these props together.






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