Francis Ford Coppola - O Apocalipse de Um Cineasta

Francis Ford Coppola was fond of saying 'Apocalypse Now' was "not about the Vietnam War; it was the Vietnam War", and this long overdue chronicle of the film's troubled production certainly proves his point. Using behind-the-scenes 16mm footage shot by Coppola's wife, Eleanor, and borrowing several passages from her published diaries, the documentary traces how what began as a modest wartime action movie (with nods to Joseph Conrad) would emerge, after several years, several tens of millions of dollars, and more than one physical and mental breakdown, as a brilliant, bloated, visionary epic. The production itself was often a living illustration of Murphy's Law: what could go wrong did go wrong, including a civil war, a devastating typhoon, a near-fatal heart attack suffered by actor Martin Sheen, and the appearance on the set of an unprepared, overweight Marlon Brando to play the emaciated Colonel Kurtz. Among the many revealing moments is Martin Sheen's drunken breakdown on camera (included in Coppola's finished film), and snippets of the fascinating, discreet audiotapes showing the director near the end of his wits. Invaluable hindsight is provided by cast and crew, including Coppola himself, who was never quite able to recover professionally from the experience.

'Are my methods unsound?' - 'I don't see a method at all, sir.'

Hearts of darkness: a filmmaker's apocalypse has become the mother of all making-of documentaries. At least that's what Coppola had in mind. I guess every making-of ever made wanted to be something like Hearts has accomplished. Problems in production, actors, story, editing, financing and directing are revealed. However, not much attention is paid to the actual adaptation of the original story and the difference in vision that was obviously there. The trouble surrounding Apocalypse Now as presented in this documentary makes you wonder how on earth Apocalypse Now was actually released at all. On the other hand that might just be exploitation of a supposedly disastrous production, like the trouble with 'The African Queen' (Huston, 1951). In that case, it would mean Coppola created a legend out of some futile problems to emphasize that you HAVE to see the final product.

Nevertheless his film IS spectacular. The helicopter action in Black Hawk Down can't top the impact of the lauded Huey-attack. And Apo features one of the greatest scores and (awardwinning) sound designs in history of cinema. With the emphasis on lunacy and despair in the form of surrealist cacophony. I would have liked to hear some more in this docu about the sound design that was as revolutionary as that of 'the Right Stuff' and 'Star Wars'. I really couldn't say that we were all tricked into pretensions and reputation-building (which IS the case with Vertigo if you ask me) for commercial purposes.

Almost forty years after Orson Welles wanted to make his first film out of Joseph Conrad's book 'Heart of Darkness' (yes, that's 3 years before Citizen Kane), Coppola started to create his own loose adaptation of the book. In this documentary is even an excerpt of Welles' 1938-radio adaptation of Heart of Darkness. I hope it will come with the docu when it is released on dvd (will it ever?).

Apo was supposed to be a sort of journey of a man into the past (hence the newly restored scene on the french plantage), almost maybe like Bergman's Wild Strawberries, but only the form and the surrealism, not the content of course. But if we may believe this docu, the production resembled just as much turmoil as the lunacy in the story itself. The French plantage (with french actress Aurore Clément ('Paris, Texas')) illustrates the fifties: the idea of the French still being in the forest and representing the fifties politics. Coppola elucidates why he initially shot and later cut out the scene. Fortunately it would later be presented to the world in the 'Redux' version. The story of Apo was supposed to take us back in time, to re-live Kurtz' adventure. Maybe even like the extraordinary 'Paris, Texas' (Wenders, 1984) that in content is also a journey into the past of a man.

For most people, this docu will be a delight just to see behind the scenes footage, because they don't see they're being manipulated by the actual SELECTION of footage and mutilation of interviews. It's very entertaining, but ultimately some points do not convince. How can the director of 'the Godfather 1+2' and 'the Conversation' let a production get out of hand like the way it's presented in 'Hearts'? And, the real heart of the concept isn't really touched by any of the interviewees. But, as an admirer of Apo, I say it's a must see, not only for the background stories (Welles), the problems created by actors (Sheen's attack, Brando's corpulence) and the lunacy on the set itself (idiodyssey?), but also to hear Francis Ford Coppola say that the film will not be good and a 20 million dollar disaster, while it was becoming the greatest warmovie ever made (right behind Catch-22 ;-). And for that, mr and mrs Coppola, I salute you. 9/10

I agree with the most positive reviews of this film. It's probably THE best documentary about the making of a movie, about the emotions and tensions behind the scenes, about the psychic terror of a director/creator trying desperately to not merely hold on to his artistic dream, but to survive! A must-see for any cinemaphile, and every Coppola enthusiast.

The making of a movie has never been documented with more power to discern the true nature of what is happening behind the scenes than in this account of the torment and the passion of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. That is because no other behind-the- scenes piece has ever had entrée of materials that are usually prohibited like shots that were never used, abandoned scenes, suppressed conflicts between the director and his actors, divulging of disheartenment and misery, including even arguments between Coppola and his secretly, patiently ambitious wife that she secretly recorded. I've always wondered how he felt about that.

The film may not be as mind-blowing as I expected, but it bares Coppola of all resistance or argument and still exposes him as a bold and daring filmmaker. It also exposes the chaos through which he put his cast and crew on location in the Philippines, and likewise what he suffered by them. Coppola, outraged that Martin Sheen's heart attack made its way to the media and the news could kill the production: "Even if he dies, I don't want to hear anything but good news until it comes from me." Dennis Hopper, his mind adrift on drugs, is unable to remember his lines and yet somehow improvises well what we see in the film. I love seeing authentic drug scenes in movies. Marlon Brando, at a cool million a week, finally shows up, yet unprepared and unexpectedly fat, and endlessly argues with Coppola about a character in a half-existent script he's barely read. Brando begins one scene and then walks away while the camera is still rolling. And Apocalypse Now premiered years after production had begun, shared the Palme d'Or, and went on to become one of the great mythic productions in film history.

Legends have blossomed from it. Coppola confessed he did not think the ending worked. Now we see what he was talking about. Originally set to be directed by the comparatively anemic George Lucas and scripted by Conan the Barbarian writer John Milius, the project went through so many changes that finally Coppola was writing it as he shot it, and actors were improvising. The production is harassed, plagued and badgered by rainstorms, morbidly obese budget overruns, health scares, and logistical horrors, as when the Philippine government rents Coppola the same helicopters it's using to fight rebels ten miles away.

Coppola shouted in despair to his wife, Eleanor: "I tell you from the bottom of my heart that I am making a bad film." And again, "We are all lost. I have no idea where to go with this." Yet Coppola's vision somehow remained secure. Milius, flown to the Philippines by a desperate studio to bring sanity back to the script, remembers that he walked in prepared to convince Coppola that the war was lost and they had to salvage what they could. When he left, Coppola had him convinced it would be the first film to win the Nobel Prize. That is what Francis Ford Coppola is made of, and why the film is so sad. It's like a dirge in that his glory days are long, long gone. Did he only have a handful of remarkable cinematic achievements in him? What has happened?

In the 1970s, he made the first two Godfathers and Apocalypse Now, assaulted with grave personal, political, and creative resistance that, as is evidenced here, almost dismantled him. The Conversation was made straight from his two bare hands. These films are masterstrokes. After Apocalypse Now, his work took a serious nosedive---The Outsiders? New York Stories? ---and even now, as he has returned to the helm with Youth Without Youth, he cannot seem to repossess his course. He had to fight for those masterpieces and that agony and ecstasy is what made them so unsurpassable. Though he at one point denies it in this documentary, Coppola must run on hectic despair and obstruction to make a great film. And that's what we see him do here. It's a curse.

Hearts of Darkness is based on footage that Eleanor Coppola shot at the time, and on recent interviews with both Coppolas, plus Milius, Lucas and the cast, including Larry Fishburne, whose appearance is fascinating because we see him as a naive, restless 14-year-old on a gigantic multi-million-dollar movie shoot and at the present, where he has changed and learned so much. We feel for once we are witnessing the true story of how a movie got made rather than a series of interviews about how brilliant person A is and what a beautiful soul person B is.

This fascinating , acclaimed documentary deals with the making of Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece and is largely based on original stock footage filmed by his wife Eleanor , along with Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper who shot recent interviews with cast and crew members . Originally scheduled to be shot over six weeks , ended up taking 16 months , resulting in a Coppola's 40 million dollar great epic vision of the Vietnam war . In 2001 was realized a ¨redux¨ , a new reediting adding footage , the episode of the playmates and the French people encounters , where there's a lot of nudism . This new edition is today considered to be the official version . Considered by some to be the ultimate flick in its overall depiction of chaos , horror , and bloodletting , by others definitively overwrought and unrealistic . This was a splendid film with awe-inspiring battles , stunning photography , effective musical score and compelling montage . The original picture concerned the disillusioned Army captain Willard (Martin Sheen) who tells the story , he is assigned for a special mission : Kill renegade colonel Kurtz (an elephantine Marlon Brando) , American general highly decorated who the army officers believe has gone murderer and nut . His trip is punctuated by surrealist and weird battles and horrifying descent into a land where human rationality seems to have slipped away . Willard joins a misfit crew (Albert Hall , Sam Bottons , Frederic Forest, Larry Fishburne) making a risked and dangerous journey upriver towards Cambodia . Along the way they participate at a superbly coreographed attack by helicopters to the music of ¨Ride of Valkyrie¨ . They'll encounter a mad marine captain , fond of surf (Robert Duvall who gives 10 excellent minutes as a battle-obsessed Major) , as well as playboy bunnies and French military and a civil group (Christian Marquand and Aurore Clement) living lonely at a plantation since Dien Bien Phu defeat (1954) . The travel is dangerously developed until the fateful meeting with Kurtz . Marlon Brando/Colonel Kurtz and Captain Willard /Martin Sheen attempts to assassinate him form the hub of the tale . The perilous journey is narrated as a bizarre odyssey leading to the dreadful and terrible final but when the protagonists meet General Kurtz the scenarios are darkest and gloomiest . As Kurtz cannot be despatched by a weapon bullet , but he has to be hacked to pieces with a machete to symbolise the simultaneous slaughter of a sacrificial bull .

It is a stunning , riveting and absorbing documentary that is based on the known film that was inspired by Joseph Conrad's novella : ¨The heart of the darkness¨ and it goes on to be subject of debate . At once anecdotal and revealing , this top-notch picture shows the catastrophes that beset this particular project , and by way of comparison describes exactly what American film has foregone since the seventies . Both Martin Sheen and Coppola suffered emotional breakdown during the overlong shooting , as Martin Sheen had a heart attack during the filming and some shots of Willard's back are of doubles , including Sheen's brother Joe Estevez who was flown out specially . The documentary lists a catalogue of disasters : Sheen's stroke , problems with weather , including thunderous thypoons , and the Filipino goverment ruled by dictator Ferdinand Marcos who took the helicopters to wage war the communist guerrilla , massive over-expenditure , the upsettling actors , specially : Sam Bottoms and Dennis Hopper , spaced out whatever drugs were availble and an overweight Marlon Brando refusing to perform a fat role . Regarding the movie Coppola told the following : ¨It was a crazy , we had access to too much money and too much equipment , and little by little we went insane¨. This documentary is entirely in agreement with this verdict . There are several interviews to actors and crew , as Martin Sheen , Albert Hall , Dennis Hopper , Frederic Forest 15-year-old Larry Fishburne , Production designer Dean Tavoularis , producer Fred Roos , the great photographer Vittorio Storaro , and the screenwriter John Milius himself who explains the movie tackles issues of ethics and morality and the horror war . And cameraman Vittorio Storaro who carried out a spellbound and breathtaking cinematography , he won an Oscar , a very well deserved Academy Award . The movie in spite of the passed time is still powerful and astounding . The documentary was perfectly directed by Eleanor Coppola , pacing with great sensitivity and artistic ambition . Coppola's wife along with Fax Bahr and George Wickenlooper assembled from later interviews from some 60 hours of footage filmed on location in the Philippines , much of it by Eleanor .