Kilgore: You can either surf, or you can fight!
Willard: Are you crazy, Goddammit? Don't you think it's a little risky for some R&R?
Kilgore: If I say it's safe to surf this beach, Captain, then it's safe to surf this beach! I mean, I'm not afraid to surf this place, I'll surf this whole f*cking place!
Kilgore: Charlie don't surf!
There is no scene in any movie more majestic and more absurd than the attack on a Viet Cong village at the mouth of the Nung River. Captain Willard and his crew rendezvous with the 1st Air Cavalry Division led by Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, played with panache by Robert Duvall. He is a strange twisted psycho. Kilgore refuses to transport them to the Nung River until he finds out that one of the crew members is a professional surfer and the waves at the mouth of the Nung River are perfect for surfing. Riding high above the coast in a fleet of Hueys accompanied by OH-6As, Kilgore launches his attack on the beach with Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries blaring over loud speakers. Kilgore explains to Willard that , "we use Wagner. It scares the sh*t out of the slopes. My boys love it!" The surreal scene ends with the soldiers surfing the barely-secured beach amidst skirmishes between infantry and the Viet Cong. After helicopters swoop over the village and demolish all visible signs of resistance, a giant napalm strike in the nearby jungle dramatically marks the climax of the battle. The absurdity is that Kilgore is considered sane, while Willard is supposed to assassinate the insane Kurtz.
Kilgore: Smell that? You smell that?
Lance: What?
Kilgore: Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that.
[kneels]
Kilgore: I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like
[sniffing, pondering]
Kilgore: victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
[suddenly walks off]
Conrad's novel and Coppola's movie are explorations of hypocrisy, ambiguity, and moral confusion. Right versus wrong; good versus evil; saving versus defeating; humanity versus savagery; white versus black or yellow; winning versus losing; all are blurred in a haze of mystification. Can insanity exist in a world that has already gone insane? Is Kurtz really insane or was he just put into an insane situation which brings out the darkness and evil that exists within every human heart? Marlow snakes his way up the Congo River slowly as the river flows against his progress. He starts his journey from the Outer Station, reaches the Central Station, and eventually reaches the Inner Station. The atmosphere gets darker, more confusing, and more absurd as he gets closer to Kurtz. Willard starts his mission in daylight. The lighting and mood darken as the boat navigates upstream and Willard's silent obsession with Kurtz deepens. The snaking passageway from lightness to darkness is a reflection of the dual nature of the human soul.
The madness, ludicrousness and senseless violence of the Vietnam War are all on display as the patrol boat proceeds up river. They are attacked by a tiger in the Jungle, witness a riot during a Playboy Bunny performance for the troops, and observe the chaos at Do Long bridge as leaderless panicked soldiers scramble to live another day. The moral ambiguity of the war is brought into clear view when the captain spots a sampan and orders an inspection over the objections of Willard. Initially reluctant to board the boat, Chef hostilely searches it and one of the civilians makes a sudden movement towards a barrel, prompting Clean to open fire, killing nearly all the crew. The one concerned about the barrel, a young woman, lies dying. Chef discovers that the barrel contained the woman's pet puppy. Phillips insists on taking the survivor to receive medical attention, however, Willard ends the debate by shooting the survivor, calmly stating "I told you not to stop."
American leaders have sent our military into harm's way in countries halfway around the world without a clear mission. The initial mission was to defeat the Taliban and capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Within weeks, the Taliban government had collapsed and bin Laden was trapped at Tora Bora. Inexplicably, the U.S. military allowed bin Laden to escape. Now, nine years later bin Laden is still making audio tapes, the Taliban is stronger than ever, and we can't distinguish the enemy from the good guys. The war has crossed the border into Pakistan. CIA officials are blown up by double agents. Corrupt officials and secret police can't be trusted. Afghanistan is a quagmire where America has wasted a quarter of a billion dollars, 984 American lives, thousands wounded, and untold numbers of Afghans killed and misplaced. The mission now is to build a new democratic country, just like we tried in Vietnam.
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