Captain Willard

never return” (30). As a result of war, Captain Willard has completely lost his sense of individuality and purpose; his only choice, it seems, is to resume fighting as a soldier. The opening scene also alludes to Captain Willard’s capacity for evil. Peter McInerney asserts that “we seem to see [the war] as . . . Willard does, aghast and complacent at the same time” (32). The film aligns the audience with Captain Willard from the film’s onset through an intimate encounter with his darkest thoughts. As he continues pondering his inability to readjust to civilian life, his voiceover illustrates this state of limbo between soldier and civilian:

When I was here I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the

Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore, who is in charge of the Air Cavalry, helps Captain Willard and the crew reach the Nung River by attacking Charlie’s Point, which is supposedly riddled with stealthy Viet Cong forces. As the Air Cavalry makes its way to the Viet Cong village, Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore discusses surfing with fellow soldier and surf enthusiast Lance B. Johnson (Sam Bottoms). His ability to talk about leisurely activities right before the air raid demonstrates how he no longer feels troubled about the moral implications of war. To him, killing is as light an activity as surfing. When the Air Cavalry approaches Charlie’s Point, Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore blasts Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” an opera, in order to terrorize Viet Cong civilians and boost his soldiers’ morale. As the music begins, the scene rapidly intercuts between close-ups of soldiers readying their weapons, aerial shots of the helicopters, and views of the soldiers’ faces, heightening the scene’s sense of drama. Keith Solomon contends that “our camera-eye perspective remains at all times an American one, making it difficult to dissociate ourselves from the colonizer” (28).

Exterminate them all!” (Apocalypse Now). As Captain Willard looks out at the Montagnards, who are ready to worship him as their new god, “[h]is face is covered in shadow on one side—he is looking into the darkness himself” as he considers succeeding Colonel Kurtz (Bachmann 330). However, he simply makes his way to the boat to head back home. The scene ends without a voiceover of Captain Willard explaining his actions; without this sense of closure, the audience is prompted to consider the implications of the film and the Vietnam War as a whole. The scene ends a montage similar to that from the beginning, with Captain Willard’s camouflaged face superimposed with fire and Colonel Kurtz’s temple, as the colonel’s final words echo: “The horror, the horror” (Apocalypse