"We're in the jungle. We have too much. We had too much money and too much equipment. And, little by little, we went crazy."
-Francis Ford Coppola
We now all know Apocalypse. It's just one of the best war movies ever made, but what if I told me the story behind Apocalypse Now was fun and interesting.
The subject of the 1991 documentary is the story of how Modern Apocalypse Now became history and how it nearly destroyed Francis Ford Coppola's life and career,
Heart of Darkness: the Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Directed by Eleanor Coppola, George Hickenlooper and Fax Bahr. The documentary uses a lot of unreleased film behind the scenes, shot by Coppola's wife, Eleanor Coppola, and features many interviews conducted years after the movie's release, and it shows the problems the crew faced during the filming process.
Angry due to extremely bad weather, health issues and being full of armed conflict; these are the issues that gradually drove Francis out of his mind. How difficult the production was was simply ridiculous.
On the face of it, it looks like a behind-the-scenes look at steroids, but more than that, it's an unprecedented exploration of the filmmaking process and an insight into the mind of a genius.
Sometimes just watching it was so stressful I couldn't even imagine living it.
Seeing Coppola react and adapt to the situation he and his crew were faced with, he wasn't sure how to time how to end the movie. The bold decisions he made with the script. It was an eye-opening experience.
I don't think I've ever seen a documentary as in-depth as Heart of Darkness.
It showed me Coppola in a completely different light than before, and unlike any other filmmaker. It's seriously shocking to see how you viewed him at the beginning of the movie's production versus how you viewed him at the end of the movie.
I must admit that after watching Heart of Darkness I felt hopeful, thinking that if something like Modern Apocalypse was successfully released, what was stopping me from trying to make my own?
So here it is, my favorite documentary of all time, and a definite must-see for filmmakers and fans alike, and for anyone who's ever had to endure a stressful project where they're over-involved and full of uncertainty.