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« » The Red and Black » Wednesday, May 13, 1992
A&E
Get tickets now from the cashier's window at the Tate Center
to see two famous guys - filmmaker John Waters at 7:30 p.m.
Friday ($2.00 students, $3.00 others) and poet Allen Ginsberg
at 7:30 p.m. May 21 ($1.00 students, $3.00 others).
Getting the Heart of Darkness down on film
A ‘Filmmaker’s Apocalypse’ means a film lover’s delight
By NOEL MURRAY
Staff Writer
Man, that Joseph Conrad book -
that ‘Heart of Darkness* thing -
that must be a bugaboo to put on
film. Orson Welles tried to do it
(before “Citizen Kane*) and he fell
short. George Lucas was going to
do it back in the early seventies,
using a script by John (“Red
Dawn*) Milius that set the story in
Viet Nam ... but he couldn’t get it
together either.
Finally, two movies were com
pleted that managed to adapt the
novella in unique ways. In 1975,
Francis Ford Copolla took John
Milius’s script with him into the
jungles of the Philippines and
emerged almost three years later
with the raw footage that would be
come “Apocalypse Now.* His wife
accompanied him, shooting home
movies of the production from start
to finish, and emerged with the
raw footage that would become the
riotous and fascinating documen
tary film “Hearts of Darkness.’
“Hearts of Darkness" (subtitled
“a filmmaker’s apocalypse") has
been kicking around for years, ini
tially as a brief promo reel that was
meant to push “Apocalypse Now,"
and later as a made-for-Pay-TV
feature that garnered so much ac
claim it was released into movie
theaters ... where it garnered even
more acclaim (including the honor
of being named “Best Movie of
1991" by critic Gene Siskel). It’s
now made its way into our sleepy
little burg for a limited engage
ment, and if you’re a good little
sheep you’ll “Baa* on down to the
mall and chew on it.
The documentary opens with
Coppola’s famous quote, “This
movie is not about Viet Nam ... It
is Viet Nam,* which should be
MOVIE REVIEW
amended for this movie about the
movie. “Hearts of Darkness* is not
about “Apocalypse Now.” It is
“Apocalypse Now.* Which means
it’s also the Conrad novel. And it’s
also Viet Nam. And you could car
ry the syllogism on even further
and say that it’s life itself.
But that really wouldn’t get you
very far. Actually, the one m^jor
criticism I have of the film is that
it’s very limiting, very closed. The
documentary is structured almost
exactly like “Apocalypse Now,*
with the egomaniacal men taking
the assignment at the beginning
and the mysterious Marlon Brando
waiting at the end. There’s not
much room for interpretation here.
But although “Apocalypse Now"
is a more powerful film (mainly be
cause it’s very open to personal
readings), “Hearts of Darkness" is
more focused. Mr. Copolla entered
the jungle not knowing exactly
what he was looking for. Mrs.
Copolla entered the jungle looking
to document her husband’s strug
gle to find what he was looking for.
The strongest moments of
“Hearts of Darkness" show Francis
agonizing over what a disaster of a
film he has created, moaning about
how pretentious and awful the
movie is going to be. These scenes
are hysterically funny given our
benefit of hindsight. We know that
the movie turned out pretty well.
In fact, it’s amazing the movie
turned out as good as it did, given
what Francis had to go through.
He weathered monsoons as well as
sweltering heat. He dealt with po
litical leaders who worried about
how rebels in the forest would re
act to the movie’s helicopters. His
leading man, Martin Sheen, suf
fered a nervous breakdown and a
heart attack during shooting. The
rest of his cast, including a very
young Larry Fishbume and a very
spaced Dennis Hopper, killed their
free time with drug abuse. And
then there was Brando....
The most fascinating,
funny, and harrowing
scenes in ‘Hearts of
Darkness’ deal with
Marlon Brando.
The most fascinating, funny,
and harrowing scenes in “Hearts of
Darkness” deal with Marlon
Brando, who accepts three million
dollars for three weeks’ work be
fore shooting begins ... and then
makes noises about backing out af
ter the studio has already ad
vanced him a million.
We’re teased with Brando’s ec
centricity at the beginning of the
documentary so we’re poised to an
ticipate his appearance at the end.
And when he appears ... about a
thousand pounds overweight and
completely unaware of what he’s
supposed to be doing ... it is so ut
terly ridiculous and anticlimactic
after what we’ve seen thus far that
it becomes hilarious.
And through all of this mayhem,
there’s Francis - waving his arms
constantly like a crazed conductor
working an orchestra full of jazz
musicians. Trying to control that
which is out of control. Trying to
make a thoughtful work of art us
ing loose, intuitive methods; but at
such an incredibly high budget
that he’s forced to make a spectac
ular entertainment at the same
time.
“Apocalypse Now" went on to re
coup the money it cost a couple of
times over, but that fact is really
incidental to this documentary.
What is captured in “Hearts of
Darkness* is the risk taken by an
artist working on a huge canvass.
This is a movie about confronting
the possibility of failure and the
ridicule of your peers.
Throughout the documentary,
we’re shown snippets of how the
American media questioned and
criticized Francis back home while
he struggled to make his near-mas
terpiece in the jungle. Upon the
film’s initial release, it was not re
ceived well. Only time has revealed
it as the antithesis of the superfi
cial blockbuster mentality that was
gripping Hollywood in the post
“Star Wars" era.
At the end of the documentary,
Francis speaks about how he hopes
that the video camera revolution
will make motion picture art avail
able to everyone... so that it can re
ally become an artform full of di
verse styles and viewpoints. This
seems like an ironic statement, giv
en the huge cost of “Apocalypse
Now,” but it reflects Coppola’s in
tentions when he began the film.
He had the audacity to think that
blockbuster films could contain
true artistry as well.
“Hearts of Darkness” is about
all of that. It’s a must-see film for
people interested in making movies
someday, or those interested in
finding out how movies are made.
It’s a slow boat ride down a foggy
river to the fear that is in the heart
of every artist and every human
being ... the fear that we don’t re
ally know what we’re doing.
And that’s a dark feeling indeed.
Director Francis Coppola and Martin Sheen: On the set.
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