Apocalypse Now

Tim O'Brien and Komenyaka have both written about the the way that war makes you into someone or something else. Tim O'Brien wrote about the way that Mary Anne Bell became the land in Vietnam. And Komenkaya wrote about the soldiers were preparing for an ambush. They were no longer there because they became the land as well. When Rat told the story of Mary Anne Bell he tells his audience about how she changed, how she arrived there as a sweet girl and evolved into savage who wore a link of tongues. In Apocalypse Now we see colonel  Kurtz who was a Harvard graduate. Kurtz was smart and very good at what he did, his experience in the Vietnam War changed him, he went rogue. In the begining of the movie we see an alcohol dependent, hallucinating Willard, who does not know who he is when he is not at war.War is madness and Apocalypse now truly captures this madness as well as the madness of the soldiers. Kilgore wanting to surf in the middle of battle is an excellent example. Another example is the way the soldiers went wild for the girls who performed in the show while the local children from the village watched. An example of the psychological toll that war has on the soldiers is the the scene where Kurtz drops Chef's decapitated head on Willard's lap. And the theories that Kurtz had about the war, as well as the corpses and decapitated heads that surrounded Kurtz camp. Even the photographer who so greatly admires Kurtz displays psychological damaged caused by his exposure to Vietnam. Kurtz was changed by the war. His last words haunted Willard, "the horror...the horror" Kurtz was truly out of his mind and knew of the horror that he had been through.