Francis Ford Coppola
Apocalypse Now

Or rather, a journey beyond the edge of madness. The horror of war recounted by one of the masters of cinema. Pure adrenaline that shakes the viewer and leaves them stunned.

The plot. Vietnam. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is tasked with finding and killing Colonel Kurtz, who has deserted and hidden in the jungle bordering Cambodia, revered as a God by a small indigenous community. It's a dirty mission. The target (Marlon Brando) is a highly-decorated top-tier officer, who seemed destined for a great military career. A small team is assigned to the officer, which will head towards the target along a river route. Thus begins a long and risky journey, allowing viewers to understand the purely human madness of war that justifies everything, from the most grotesque and petty attitudes to the most insulting and despicable orders.

Coppola offers the audience a truly unique film in its genre, a milestone in world cinema. Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, 3 Golden Globes, and only 2 Oscars: an unjustified result, probably due to the politically incorrect subject of the film. Almost 2 and a half hours of sounds and images that remain etched in the mind for a long time. Absurd characters, unimaginable in everyday life, swarm across the screen: like Colonel Kilgore, who thinks about surfing in the middle of the battle and loves the smell of napalm in the morning; like the sharpshooter high on acid who kills the enemy with the same indifference with which he lights another cigarette; or like Kurtz, fully aware of his insane madness, spreading death in Hell, yet representing the most Hamlet-like figure in the film.

Some music and image combinations are absolutely spot-on, foreshadowing the concept of the music video: Captain Willard's psychedelic hallucinations associated with "The end" by The Doors; Wagner accompanying the air cavalry's attack on a Vietnamese village.

Unmissable.