Apocalypse Now - Opening analysis

 APOCALYPSE NOW

opening analysis

In the first part of the opening we first get a wide shot of a variety of trees and fading background sounds of distant helicopters, this foreshadows the setting were going to be introduced to further in the movie, helicopters are also a recurring prop used a lot throughout the opening and the movie as a whole. The song playing is "End of the night" by The Doors, released in 1967, a song released while the Vietnamese war was still happening it opens with the lyric "this is the end" that shows how a lot of people might perceive war, as the end. As we get a shot of a helicopter passing by the camera and the trees in the background immediately catching on fire with the explosion in the background, this could represent how impactful war on is on the environment and how much destruction in general war can bring to the world.  

As the opening continues we get a moving panoramic shot of the jungle and the destruction, causing wildfires etc, this is overlapped by an upside down shot of the main character in the story, Captain Willard. This can be taken in a literal way and it could be said that he's just reminiscing of when he was in war and he's remembering, or it could maybe even be flashbacks focusing on the theme of how war can affect people and give them permanent trauma etc, not only that but the fact that it is backwards shows that something is not right with the character and that he is morally or psychologically not the right way, that or it could be interpreted as the conflict  going on inside this character due to personal problems such as the afterwards mentioned divorce with his wife or problems caused by the war itself. As the shots change we see more bright yellow fires contrasting with the black silhouettes of the palm trees, also the very popular shot of the fan that synchronises with the moving blades of a helicopter. We also get a very symbolical shot of a buddha directly opposing to the character, Buddhism stands for being right with oneself and being entered and focused on oneself, the figure of a buddha standing opposite to this character and with one of the fires caused by war in the middle shows how war might've affected this character to the point that he doesn't recognise himself anymore and is completely lost, unable to find himself. 

As we move from that sequence we see a moving shot of our main character with quicker editing being overlapped in the background with different scenes now moving away from the jungle and into his hotel room seeing multiple props including a picture of his ex wife, but with the constant fire to the left of the shot and the sound of helicopters still in the background. The first solid shot we get with no other overlaying is a shot of his glass of some sort of alcohol, fading slowly into a shot of his hand holding a cigar next to a gun under the pillow, this obviously shows that this character might be dealing with some sort of addiction or maybe he uses alcohol and other drugs to satisfy his vices and to get distracted from other underlying issues, the gun might also show that he had a rough night and he might've even be thinking about taking his own life. To finish this scene off we get a great shot of the fan in the room blending in with the sound of the blades of the helicopter, as the sound slowly fades into a quiet dark room with only a bit of light coming from the closed blinds