Insanity Reins!

Apocalypse Now will forever be remembered for its insane production, a slice of which was captured in Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991). People don't understand how one production can lead to several breakdowns, a heart attack, 100's of days over schedule and millions over budget, it must have been the passion for the art that drove Francis and all these men to such extremes, right? NO! You take a bunch of young men in the 1970's, all of which are drunk and drugged out of there mind (on speed, pot, coke), throw them in the Philippine jungle with no real structure, no idea what your story is or how its going to end, and all that is an obvious receipt for the psychotic. Yes there is passion, there is drive, but honestly the film is a mess, and Heart of Darkness is a good argument against giving a director full control over a production. In the film Eleanor Coppola compares both her and her husbands mental state to that of the character Willard played by the great Martin Sheen. I almost tend to say that there experiences were more surreal and that those comparisons are not an exageration. I say this because at least Willard was in the midst of a war, here they are making a film, but nothing about this feels remotely normal or grounded.

I recently reviewed Lost In La Mancha another movie about a troubled production. Heart of Darkness makes Lost in La Mancha look like an elderly person who passed away in their sleep. La Mancha knew when to cut its losses, Francis Ford Coppola refused, and carried on. The reason this film is a much better documentary than La Mancha is because it made me ask questions, and it made me want to get out there and sacrifice to make a film. My desire to want to make a film following me seeing this documentary is interesting because the biggest question I kept asking myself is; what is the point that art is not worth pursuing it? I mean is it worth it at loss of sanity? Loss of love? Loss of life? Where is the line? Is there a line? Was what the filmmakers went through worth you popping in Apocalypse Now on dvd? Or worth me sitting in Panera Bread writing this blog? Should the final product even matter, was their journey the true art, and the movie just a by product? The fact that I would be willing to put myself through their ordeal just to produce something, would suggest that yes, it is worth all those things.

Let me say that all the crazy on this film was not Francis's fault. He was dealing with a government that kept taking back there helicopters to fight a war, actors like Brando who showed up on set fat and had not read the source material, or Dennis Hopper who was so drugged out that he couldn't remember his lines, or a Martin Sheen that was so unhealthy he had a heart attack at 36. But regardless the result, all this is fascinating and this is a documentary that truly explores what it means to be an artist on an epic scale.

***1/2