When Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier was released last year, the only thing keeping it from being one of the best sets of the year and the definitive DVD release for the film was the glaring omission of the making-of documentary Hearts of Darkness - A Filmmaker's Apocalypse.
Using footage shot by Francis Coppola’s wife Eleanor during the principal photography in the Philippines and written/directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper, Hearts of Darkness traces one of the more infamous, lengthy and controversial film shoots ever and is the most in-depth and personal documentary ever made about the difficulties and constant problems that come with shooting a major motion picture on location in hostile conditions.
It originally premiered on Showtime in 1991 and had a brief theatrical run in 1992. Until now though, the only way to watch it was to find a warped VHS copy. Francis Coppola was not pleased with how he came off in the documentary, which is understandable, and wasn’t particularly fond of having a DVD of it out there.
According to Kim Aubry, Coppola’s Zoetrope associate who supervises the DVD releases for his films, the reason behind Hearts of Darkness’s long delayed DVD release had to do with “rights issues.” No matter what the reason was, the important thing is that the film is finally on DVD.
After the monumental success of the first two Godfather films and The Conversation in the mid 70s, Francis Coppola embarked in 1976 on what was to be the most torturous and difficult shoot of his career. The film was Apocalypse Now, a Vietnam set retelling of Joseph Conrad’s classic novel Heart of Darkness, that told the story of an American soldier/assassin named Willard (Martin Sheen) sent to assassinate the legendary Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who has surrounded himself with a native army and has “gone insane.”
Willard travels up a Vietnamese river with a group of soldiers on a Navy patrol boat and as the film progresses and he witnesses the insanities of war that have pushed Kurtz over the edge, he too goes insane.
Orson Welles had tried to make a film adaptation of Conrad’s novel in 1939 but high costs forced him to abandon it and do that little heard of film called Citizen Kane. Fragments of Orson Welles' 1938 Mercury Theater radio broadcast of "Hearts of Darkness" are used as a narrative device of the documentary and are scattered throughout Hearts of Darkness.
And the way we made it was very much like the way the Americans were in Vietnam. We were in the jungle. There were too many of us. We had access to too much money, too much equipment. And little by little we went insane.”
The film goes on to chronicle how principal photography was plagued by script, shooting, budget, and casting problems and nearly destroyed Coppola’s life and career. Hearts of Darkness is able to go where no other film documentary goes because of the footage that Eleanor Coppola shot while on location and the conversations that she recorded between her and husband without his knowledge or consent.
As the shoot went on, Coppola became increasingly frustrated and sunk into the depths of despair because of the numerous problems that occurred. The film was bankrolled by United Artists but Coppola had to put up all of his personal assets as collateral as a guarantee that the film would get finished and not come in over the original $13 million budget.
This was a huge gamble on Coppola’s part because this could’ve have ruined him. The film eventually went several million dollars over budget, which Coppola had to cover with his own cash. Ironically it would be Coppola’s next film, One From the Heart, which did him in financially. Part of Coppola’s increasingly fearful and erratic nature during the shooting of Apocalypse Now had to do with the financial aspects of the film in addition to his ongoing fear that the movie was not going to work and that he had no ending.
Despite several unflattering moments for Coppola, you end up admiring him for persevering in the face of such difficult obstacles.
There are vintage and contemporary (1991) interviews with both Coppolas and much of the cast and crew scattered throughout. Apocalypse Now was the first film that had to deal with almost daily, negative reports from the press mostly due to the growing budget and shooting schedule and the notion that Coppola had become a megalomaniacal, crazed director.
A week into shooting, he fired Harvey Keitel, who had been originally cast as Willard; because he felt that the film was not working with him in the role. In his place, Coppola cast Martin Sheen. Sheen admits candidly that he was not in a good state during shooting as he was out of shape and a three pack a day smoker.
We see a drunken, bloody Sheen on his 36th birthday shooting the famous opening of the film where he has a nervous breakdown in his hotel room. You quickly realize that there was not much acting going on during that sequence. He later has a heart attack and nearly dies.
One of the more fascinating Coppola outbursts that was taped without his knowledge has him incensed that word of Sheen’s heart attack has already gotten out and will no doubt, hit the trade and gossip papers thus further intensifying the media attack on the film and worrying the financers. “If Marty dies, I want to hear that everything is ok until I say that Marty is dead” is Coppola at the end of his mental rope.
Shooting in the Philippines was problematic because of typhoons destroying sets and slowing down production and because of the civil war going on between Ferdinand Marcos’ government and rebels. Marcos agreed to let Coppola use his helicopters for the film’s famous battle sequences but in several instances we see the government having to recall the helicopters to use against the rebels, sometimes in the middle of shooting, costing Coppola time and money.
Dennis Hopper shows up, wacked out of his mind on acid, and can’t remember his lines. Marlon Brando shows up for his three weeks of work at $1 million a week and not only hasn’t read Heart of Darkness, but slows down the production further by having endless discussions with Coppola about his character and dialogue.
One of the more humorous moments, certainly not for Coppola, has Brando improvising some dialogue then walking off declaring “I can’t think of anymore dialogue today.” There are several candid moments of Coppola confessing to his wife that he truly believes that the film is going to fail and that the ending will never work.
The full frame transfer has not been touched up at all but, to an extent, the grains and scratches present add to the gritty feel of the documentary. Some of the contemporary interviews could’ve been touched up a little, however. I was slightly disappointed to see no extra footage included here.
I had hoped to see SOME footage of Keitel as Willard to get some sense of why Coppola fired him after just one week. There is, however, a wonderful running commentary by Francis and Eleanor Coppola. Recorded separately, Eleanor focuses on her inexperience behind the camera and the difficulties she encountered shooting her piece while Francis tries to correct some of the misconceptions he felt people had about him upon viewing the film.
He has a good sense of humor about it and like all of his commentaries you are left with a greater understanding and appreciation for what you have seen.
The other extra is the 62 minute documentary, also shot by Eleanor Coppola, Coda: Thirty Years Later which leads one to believe that it might have been a follow-up to Hearts of Darkness. It is not unfortunately; rather it focuses on Coppola’s return to filmmaking after ten years, Youth Without Youth.
It does try to connect with the guerilla type shoot that Apocalypse was but the source material isn’t as fascinating as Apocalypse is even if there is some excitement at seeing Coppola back behind the camera where he belongs after a long hiatus.
Apocalypse Now would be Coppola’s last undisputed masterpiece as the emotional and physical toll of the filming took a lifetime toll on him and he would never approximate the level of greatness that his four 1970s films had ever again. It is easy to hypothesize after watching Hearts of Darkness that something snapped in Coppola and he never quite got it back.
Given the extraordinary circumstances that surrounded the film, it’s hard to blame him. It’s amazing that he survived PERIOD and that no one died during the filming.
It isn’t often that a making-of documentary can make you appreciate a film even more but Hearts of Darkness pulls it off like no other. Apocalypse Now is and remains a masterpiece, albeit slightly flawed; one that explores the dark, predatory nature of man like no other film before or since.
Hearts of Darkness - A Filmmaker's Apocalypse gives one an insider’s look at the hell involved in bringing that masterpiece to the screen. This is a mandatory pick up for any film student or aficionado.
Hearts of Darkness - A Filmmaker's Apocalypse is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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