How hisorically accurate is the film "Apocalypse Now"?!
Question: It's one of my favorite films but I do not know much about the time period and am wondering how well it portrays the war.
Answers: It's one of my favorite films but I do not know much about the time period and am wondering how well it portrays the war.
Ostensibly, "Apocalypse Now" is actually based of Joseph Conrad's Romantic masterpiece "Hearts of Darkness" which explored a similar concept and similar themes except it took place in Congo (1880s-1900). "Apocalypse Now" reinterpreted that novel and decided to combat the radicalism derived from post-Vietnam pictures by making a haunting, introspective look at the basic destruction/deterioration (ontological, physical, psychological) of human conflict.
What's incredible is just how smoothly the source material works with the altered time period and location. As the above posters suggest, the film is described as disturbingly accurate; this is the result of Coppola's ability to capture not only the imaginative, 'apocalyptic' scenery of Vietnam, but also to embed it with the psychological torment of Marlow/Kurtz. Moreover, the film spends less time on nailing historical accuracies than attempting to confirm the the viewer's belief that Marlow is becoming possessed by the same spirituality that Kurts 'discovered'. So, in essence, by universalizing the conflict and inner struggles of the film's central character, Francis Ford Coppola was able to avoid making a by-the-books account of the war.
So, answering your question in a nutshell, the film is incredibly accurate in its depictions because of how cinematic and 'real' it feels. Surely, the actual event and characters are heavily fictionalized but they embody the same anxieties and gloom that our soldiers were subjected to during this awful period.
It is pretty well fictional.
It is based on Conrad's Heart of Darkness (set in the Belgian Congo).
Military aspects (helicopters, boats and guns used) are supposed to be pretty accurate. I would not treat it as an accurate film on that war. Something like Full Metal Jacket would be closer.
AN is more of a universal tale placed down into the topical setting of the Vietnam War.
And it IS a great film.
Peace
It has been praised over the years as one of the most accurate portrayals of the Vietnam War (most notably with Oliver Stone's Platoon) by both historians and Vietnam veterans.
Even though it is based on a novel not concerned at all with Vietnam, its only the basic themes that are taken from the novel and resituated in Vietnam, therefore is foundation in the novel has no relevance to its historical accuracy of the Vietnam War.
Most veterans claimed that Full Metal Jacket was not very accurate in the war scenes, but very accurate in boot camp, etc scenes.
The major battle scenes of FMJ were filmed in England (seriously) whereas Apoc. Now and Platoon were actually filmed in SE Asia jungles.
Hard hitting, emotionally gripping fiction.
Good story tho, don't you think?
Not at all!
Your problem lies in your question, being "historically accurate" is a tricky thing. Did events in the movie actually take place? No. Did the props used by the characters actually see combat in Vietnam? Yes. The helicopters and machine guns are all the sames ones that would of been used.
As for the war being accurately portrayed by a movie (any movie) I'm going to go with no. While not personally a Vietnam veteran I know a lot of them (if your American odds are you do too) and I haven't met one who thought very highly of any movie based on Vietnam.
As for the Heart of Darkness. There were no helicopters in the book, sorry. And the Belgian Congo is in Africa, not South East Asia. The story is about riding a steam boat up a river towards a mine. Not about a military conflict fought over the rise of communism.
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very accurate.