Eleanor Coppola’s archival footage of her husband’s trials during the filming of Apocalypse Now (1979) remains one of the finest examples of behind-the-scenes footage ever.
In one of the most legendary shots of the 1979 Vietnam War classic Apocalypse Now, Captain Willard, played by Martin Sheen in full commando garb, ascends from a lake, his face camouflaged, as “The End” by The Doors plays. It’s a visceral shot, especially considering the broader context of the film in which the scene takes place. However, Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1992) reveals just how visceral the production phase was–to the point it began to impact the sanity of the cast and crew.
As such, it takes a brave filmmaker who has vast insight into Francis Ford Coppola’s mind to shoot the footage for this. Eleanor Coppola plays the film perfectly. She was on the front lines through every tumultuous stage of the production, from the Filipina typhoon that wiped out most of their sets to Charlie Sheen suffering a heart attack. Eleanor’s narration is clear, breaking through the chaos of the filmmaking process and revealing a more intimate side to her husband that most of us will ever possibly know.
But it’s not just the archival footage of the cast and crew that make this film stand out–it’s also the testimonials from Francis Ford Coppola and notable collaborators that make this film a revelation. Francis Ford Coppola reveals in several interviews how he created American Zoetrope to separate the art of filmmaking from the constraints of the Hollywood studio system, which had started to decline in the 1970s. But the creative anxieties didn’t disappear with the lack of mainstream studio backing. In one moment, he says “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.” In a way, Coppola himself became Captain Willard–a sweaty, trauma-infused man leading a mission that is bound to not go according to plan.
But it’s in these moments of anxiety that the film really shines. For every set that is destroyed by Typhoon Olga, we see footage of Coppola and his family enjoying in the rituals by a local indigenous tribe who was brought in to film as Kurtz’s community in the third act. We see footage of Albert Hall collaborating and improvising with Coppola over a powerful monologue, a feature that would not have been possible without the New Hollywood film movement. We also see Coppola describe one of the key components of this film. As Captain Willard his men go down the river towards Colonel Kurtz, the men “go back in time,” as they witness the leftovers of French Indochina to reach a settlement where they see humanity at its most primal.
One of the biggest achievements of the New Hollywood movement was the ability to indulge in auteurism while exploring the more wretched and complicated souls of humanity, and Heart of Darkness is a testament to this. Watching this film places you right at the center of Apocalypse Now, where you get to see the pieces come together on one of the most iconic movies of the 20th century. When the film introduces Marlon Brando’s revolutionary turn as Colonel Kurtz, you feel as though you have seen the entire history of cinema in one go, from the silent films to the present. If you are a lover of film as I am, then you should absolutely check this out if you want to see a master collaboration of artists and auteurs at work.
BEYOND THE FRAME 
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