Analyzing Evil: Colonel Kurtz
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- čas přidán 5. 08. 2019
- Thanks for stopping by to check out the first episode of Analyzing Evil featuring Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now! Enjoy the video and as this is my first, any feedback would be appreciated, good or bad.
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#Apocalypse Now #Colonel Kurtz #Marlon Brando
I like this quote from Willard.
"Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500"
Damn....Bars!!!
@@frankfreeman1553 We don't do bars on this channel my man, no rap. No sir, we here are a more sophisticated type with an ear for the classical, and art rock type of genre's. Ya dig.
@@blanegideon3658 Like a shovel to a small ditch
@@blanegideon3658 You do NOT speak for everyone here "Blane" sit your goofy ass down, bars are bars. Hip Hip will NEVER DIE and it transcends ALL genres of music, IDC how much you hate that, Suck it up.
@@StylzGTNT Rap sucks, Embrace classic music and stop leaving in poverty of toughts.
In fact I can see how Lt. Col killgore, Cpt. Willard, and Col. Kurtz could all be the same man just at different stages of his war life.
Id ego and super ego?
Excellent observation.
Willard and Kurtz perhaps, but Killgore is too different in too many ways.
It's a common trope you see in war films - the 'evolution of the soldier' - which follows a man through various stages of development as time progresses from naïve boy into overwhelmed fish-out-of-water, to anxious mess, to enthusiastic dealer of violence, acclimated and blaise professional, numb automaton, and eventually over-tired and fatigued mess. It's like a peak on a graph, the top of the mountain being a state of being where you no longer fear death because you operate under its certainty, in effect already being dead. This can only go on for so long however, as even though one mentally and emotionally checks out, the fatigue still registers on the body despite the adaptation and defense mechanisms.
If you wanted to be really analytical about it, you could find a character in Apocalypse Now that corresponds to each step in this process - Kurtz being the eventual endpoint, Willard being in a period of transition from numb automaton to spiritual wreck, Kilgore being the enthusiastic dealer of violence, Chef being the anxious wreck, Clean being the naïve kid, etc.
@@fuzzydunlop7928
Excellent analysis.
Brando may have shown up on set overweight, without having read the book, and was as eccentric as usual, but at the end of the day he still gave a chilling performance.
Kurtz is truly one of the most terrifying movie villains ever. He is a man immersed in horror and he became a horror himself.
Just like in the island of Dr Moreau
@@Johnconno what’s you talking Willis
"and was as eccentric as usual" That's why he was perfect for the role, duh.
@@srstriker6420 but there he was just... For example, he was so morbidly obese that he just decided to wear an icebucket on his head and nobody dared take it off because they feared he might just fuck off and never return. There was also an incident where his lines where delivered to him via a hidden speaker that started picking up local police frequencies and he gace so little of a fuck about it that he just repeated them as if they where lines from the script
@@greulich9635 and the makeup which makes him look like Emperor Palpatine
I always thought the razor blade represented insanity, the snail is Kurz walking a tightrope between sane and insane.
Exactly. Literally Kurtz balancing on the razor's edge....humanity vs insanity, or is his "insanity" really absolute clarity?
i felt that the razor description signified that he felt pain, no matter which side he fell into. he would forever be scarred by the razor's edge between both regions. (i think a precursor message to PTSD) resist insanity, accept insanity. purgatory (the edge) is PTSD by definition.
Man walking on a tightrope above an abyss between animal and the ultramentch.
Dude says it in the video. It was how Kurtz viewed his enemy, the Vietcong.
Fighting them so long, and his constant nagging fear of an enemy he knew the U.S. was ill prepared to fight, drove him completely insane.
He wasn't on a tightrope. The man was even lower than Hell, itself.
Reduced, from a military strategic genius lauded by his peers, to 2 simple final rasps as he lay dying, a husk of his former self........ "The Horror...."
I think Kurtz is the snail - but who placed the snail on the razor? He is a man that was trying to do the impossible; to believe and live "double think" - you cannot survive mentally, with two opposing moral thoughts in your head. "Freedom is slavery", "The lie is always the truth", " Good is evil", " the definition of hate is love". He was a man - once human, now finding himself forced to behave like an animal, as a human being.....living on the razor's edge
“Killing without judgment”
Really puts a twist on “terminate with extreme prejudice”
Nice
Its in the moment. Adaption Special Forces are real good at individual team judgment. And move independently for US objectives. That is why they are special.
It was forced into the script by the U.S. military “technical advisors”. The production had to be on the right foot with the military, since they were lending their helicopters and jets IF they were not required for other activities. Originally It was supposed to be the general in the house that gives the order, but they inserted that civilian character (presumably CIA) give the order, since the military wouldn’t issue such an order.
handing out murder charges here is like handing out speeding tickets at the indie 500
@@luiskp7173 Actually the US military withdrew their material support because of the script. All military equipment was provided by the Philippine military
The fact that Marlon Brando ad-libed all his dialog is quite an amazing and disturbing thing.
Brando fulfills the films/scripts promise
@@FantasyDepression Yes that's true, but...what a phenomenal performance anyway; Brando WAS already Kurtz in a loose way -- a man disaffected from life and career, which shone through his "I don't give a shit" exterior, letting the deep-down brilliance of his acting ability through. I think ultimately he understood Kurtz as perhaps no other actor could.
Brando had a lot of personal problems. Look into his relationship with his daughter. That's all you'll need to know about the man. Granted he's brilliant in this but it wasn't far off from him being a twisted individual
Not all of it was ad-libbed - a lot of Willard and Kurtz's various monologues were written by Michael Herr - either while he was covering the war in Vietnam as a correspondent or specifically for the film. He would also go on to co-write Full Metal Jacket. A very intense dude.
Lol why disturbing ?
Out of all the characters in this series. Kurtz is probably the most tragic. He is not a sadist, not a crazed monster, not a shape, not a hitman. He is by definition a moral man driven to savagery by one question " how do I win this war for my country?"
Yep. And it trapped him forever.
He's what we call a pragmatist and a moral utilitarian
@@Blobby192 no, that probably was him when he lost his soul.
@@kbennett2587 would you be saying the same if the film was set in WW2 and Kurtz had been a german soldier? One who did what he did, including war crimes, not out of hatred for the enemy but rather the love for his country?
If the answer is no then your respect for Kurtz is hypocritical, seeing as had he been of a different nationality you'd condemn him.
If the answer is yes, you're basically saying you'd condone any behavior if done during a tragedy like war time.
Exactly the epitome of what Special Forces were created to do.
"Even the jungle wanted him dead. And that's who he really took his orders from anyway."
What year is it??????
I feel like the jungle was a main character in the story, the way I felt the desert was a main character in Blood Meridian. The longer you stay there, the more it warps you. It’s a hungry beast that has no emotion or morality, just an appetite.
@Danny Carvajal the year...
@Danny Carvajal we build time machines with transducing capacitors with built in temporal displacements....
@Danny Carvajal hahaha
See the comments and agree with a lot of them.
Kurtz is persecuted not because he is ruthless. If ruthlessness was persecuted others like Kilgore would be in trouble as well. However as we see Kilgore is in many ways revered by the machine because he is firmly a part of it.
Kurtz in the eyes of his chain of command has done the ultimate sin. He has stepped off the boat. He doesn't take orders from them any more and this is the root of their displeasure. He has slipped off his chain and acts to a higher standard within himself. Standard that has led him to be ruthless and efficient but also on the edge of being unhinged with power. He hates the duplicity of his chain off command and is in essence disillusioned
with his master. He has stared into the abyss too long and found that the abyss has not only stared back but grown within himself detaching himself from his humanity. The genius of Kurtz is that he is well aware of this and realises that there is no way back for him. The only way would be to die like a soldier and let Willard who sympathises with him kill him with the hope that he can show Willard the truth about himself before he dies.
Indeed. He understood that men like the one he became are necessary parts of the world we live in, especially when it comes to war. In a raw, informal, down to the bedrock type of war that Vietnam was, there is little room for universal ethics and procedures. He believed that in a world where we accept that a war like Vietnam must occur, we must also accept the ultimate suspension of everything we believe to be good or evil. That there is no good and evil in war, only the result. And like you said, he was self aware in the sense that he understood what he was doing wasn’t right, but he had reached a point of what he’d likely call “enlightenment” to the point that right and wrong no longer made sense to even consider
@@AP-qr8en isn't it that vietnam didn't need to occur that drives him insane? isn't his encampment with the indigenous his effort at extracting himself from the war effort? i don't think kurtz thinks of himself as a necessity, but as a rube that only realized once in the heart of darkness that there was no way out of it. so he came to exist as a center of gravity within it, always had the impression it was his willpower that was navigating the boat down the river... it's been a couple dozen times but it's also been forever since i've seen that movie. think i'm going to go read the book for the first time, and give it another view. sheen is so incredible, throughout.
It's kinda like America's relationships with Cuban dictators. Both Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro were tyrants. But the American government was fine with Batista because they could control him. While initially supportive of Castro they turned on him when they found out he couldn't be controlled. Some people are fine with monsters, as long as they are the ones holding the leash.
@@1987MartinT excellent way to put it. The film shows that with the contrast between Kilgore and Kurtz. Same animal, but one is on a leash and the other isn’t. That’s what they saw as unacceptable
1987MartinT so many Americans online talk with such pride of their presidents past and present , their country as a whole and their military exploits abroad yet rarely ever discuss the puppeteers backstage orchestrating the whole scripted facade decade after decade. Kool-Aid made in America guzzled by Americans from coast to coast.
Aside from interpreting what his dream means, I think the fact that Kurtz is taking the time to describe his dream at all says something of his state of mind. He's a man searching for meaning and a hidden truth behind his actions. He's looking to ephemeral and nebulous concepts to explain why he's feeling the way he feels and why he's doing what he's doing.
"sometimes he goes too far, he is the first one to admit it"
Yes!
I think you're spot on. Kurtz saw what he must become to take the fight to the enemy without the strict rules placed on our soldiers. He saw a necessity in fighting fire with fire. He hated the idea of napalm because of the general cowardice in its use, the indiscriminate nature of dropping it wherever without a strategic plan involved. He talks a lot about precision, he was a very calculated man as is pointed out. His mind was clear but his soul was mad. He had to become horror to defeat horror. However, he rationalized becoming horror by viewing it as necessary evil. You can see that in his analysis of the men who hacked off the arms. He is telling the story of how he came to grips with horror. He is inviting the viewer to see where he split his soul from his mind. The split in his conscious of what he always thought was right vs what needed to be done and how.
He knew Willard would kill him. His plan was to educate Willard before he did it, so his story would not be clouded with bias. He wanted him to tell his story to his family and others, through his eyes, so he tried to show him horror and get him used to it. He knew Willard was going to kill him and he respected him still. Some think Kurtz wanted him to replace him, but i think Kurtz knew his run was up and that his lifestyle and mental well being were too shot out. He knew the pain he carried was too much and believed his methods and thoughts were too far from the status norm to be understood at the current time.
Thank you, and thanks for the comment. I couldn't have said it better myself!
Willard and Kurtz are the same, but they have different goals. Kurts to win the war, Willard to kill Kurtz because those are his orders, adn he will do what he needs to succeed
@@danielhodson929 I don't think they were the same, per say. Kurtz was very smart, and he spent some time chastising Willard. He would have been different if they were much more alike. But who knows.
He's kind of grisly, but not stupid. Those brass are ignorantly killing; he won't take it. Makes him a great man, really. Independence is #1
“Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.”
Is that from Blood Meridian? I know I've heard that somewhere before...
Only cormac Mccarthy could ever write such a line.
@@serotoninsyndrome Yep 👍
@@serotoninsyndrome One of Judge Holden's sermons to the Glanton Gang. The most magnificent prose; I can hear the fire crackle and smell the earth around the camp in that excerpt.
@@davidparker527
"What's he a judge of?"
"Quiet, lad. He's ears like a fox..."
Ever read McCarthy's "Suttree". I think that's my favorite of his.
The weirdest thing is that victory was never ever the goal of Lyndon B. Johnson, the only goal was to enforce negotiations. Doomed to failure like Napoleon in Moscow. Kurtz didn't realize that this war was only some kind of political chess. He was only a soldier, a broken chess piece.
See why its always listed as an international police action and why, despite all the measures, you never seen a mass mobilization effort on the homefront. Same with many of our current wars, and while you can point out that a total of 2,709,918 men served in total the peak was 543,000. And those aren't combat forces exclusively, that's military personnel total.
As brutal as it is, its brutal for the same reason many of current wars are so brutal. Killing the enemy is treated as a secondary, or even tertiary objective to whatever other reason has brought them there.
Yeah, the US could have taken taken North Vietnam (the cities at least) fairly easily, but the fear of a Korea 2 electric boogaloo made them wary of doing just that. But that decision basically killed any chance of a swift US victory or any US victory really.
@@spacemarinechaplain9367 After WW2 Ho Chi Minh wanted independence and democracy for his country but US made a bad deal with de Gaulle to restore french domination in Vietnam. Without that strategic mistake many bad things would never had happened and communism wouldn't have established in vietnam because vietnamese and chinese were never good friends historically. Beside that we wouldn't have get this great movie.
@@maxheadshot3287 Yeah but France was/is an important player both locally in Europe and internationally. The US didn’t want to alienate one of their most important allies by siding against them especially when De Gaulle was the type of guy who’d take his ball and go home if he didn’t get what he wanted. The ball being Frances military and him going home was leaving NATO ( which eventually happened anyway.)
IRmightynoob drugs, it’s a giant drug cartel war. Afghanistan is the #1 producer of opium, as opium deaths rise. Same in Vietnam, (bit of truth in American Gangster) except heroin, and that drug epidemic of the 70s.
Thats one major reason. Once you add it all up though, the drugs, military industrial complex, construction contracts, eugenics, it all feeds the beast.
I just call it evil at this point. And the worst part is it feeds off our own individual sin. Wether it be drug addiction, the sport of war, or just greed and power.
What other system would collect the youth from their homes to send them to far away land to kill and be killed, only to secure poison to send back to their own homes. It’s incredibly fucked, and that’s the fuckin’ horror.
“Dear son,
I’m afraid that both you and your mother would have been worried for not hearing from me these past weeks. But my situation here has become a difficult one. I’ve been officially accused of murder by the Army. The alleged victims were four Vietnamese double agents. We spent months uncovering and accumulating evidence. When absolute proof was completed, we acted, we acted like soldiers. The charges are unjustified. They are in fact, under the circumstances of this conflict, quite completely insane. In a war there are many moments for compassion and tender action. There are many moments for ruthless action, for what is often called ruthless, what may in many circumstances be only clarity; seeing clearly what there is to be done and doing it directly, quickly, aware … looking at it. I would trust you to tell your mother what you choose about this letter. As for the charges, I’m unconcerned. I’m beyond their timid, lying morality. And so I’m beyond caring.
You have all my faith.
Your loving father.”
I love how he quotes the "If you can keep you head when everyone around you is losing theirs" line. This is actually from the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling. The poem is often part of the recommended reading in military academies around the world.
I think the snail dream is an allegory for being on the edge of his sanity. If he leans to far to one side, he’ll lose balance and fall, but he’s still unknowingly being torn apart if he stays center
Noice
Wat?
this is actually the most solid explanation of his dream I've heard
When you've survived true horrors & atrocities, you will be able to understand Kurtz, Kilgore, & Willard.
Truth.
Dont need combat for those. Just life.
I don't know if I'm completely off here, but I always interpreted Kurtz's "snail on a razor blade" dream as the snail being the Viet Cong and the razor blade being the US Military: no matter how hard we fought them, we weren't beating them: the snail crawls along the edge of the straight razor, yet still survives.
Agree . It’s suggesting the Vietnamese are the snail moving along the industrialised machine of the US military .
Yeah I could see that as a good interpretation.
The snail could also represent Kurtz. The razor, his internal desire to die.
The snail surviving the blade could represent how Kurtz has been extremely lucky at avoiding death in battle. Now that the Americans want him dead & knowing his small army of Montagnards will never be able to beat the insurmountable numbers of the communists, he's flat out of reasons to stick around
Was going to comment this. To me it's essentially saying that the US army's failure to adept will cause them to lose the war against this opponent who is seemingly unaffected by their current methods.
@@bring-out If not the US military as a whole, at least the Special Forces.
I think that is a reference to the Iliad, a poem that Kurtz probably knew all too well. In fact Kurtz is an archetype of Achilles in his 'menas,' a state of soul-deep angst translated as 'madness' in many early versions. Achilles and Kurtz are both warrior demigods; Achilles the son of Zeus and Kurtz the son of the god-like-powered Uncle Sam. and both have thwarted in their quest for glory,denied the ultimate fulfillment of their destiny. But gods are not compelled to act morally. Kurtz cannot reconcile his mission with his conscience. The rapine and destruction of a nation too far away and not white enough for anyone in the USA to think twice about garnered little sympathy and much profit for the makers of boot wax. But Kurtz self elevation to nascent godhood followed the self destruction of a civilization that has collapsed under the weight of its own powerHe is anti-civilization, he is the rejection of European civilizing whiteness and the embrace of the jungle; he who embraces the jungle enbraces the orchid AND the cobra. He knows that he must die, but he killed himself long ago, when the civilized poet-soldier fought a war driven by makers of boot wax. Before he dies at the hand of Willard he divests himself of the stench of civilization, so that he may become a god. 'For we all live as upon the razor's edge..'(Nestor, in Homer's Iliad)
I would LOVE a Heart of Darkness analysis of Kurtz. I truly enjoy studying classical horror stories such as Heart of Darkness, Frankenstein, the original Dracula and such. I truly enjoyed your analysis on Kurtz and Nurse Ratched.
I’d love that too
same here. Also did Kurtz in the book have a similar snail dream?
@@robhemp5548 No he didn’t.
Read "King Leopold's Ghost" which is nonfiction upon which Heart of Darkness is based.
His mind is clear, but his soul is insane.
💀
A friend, who was in special forces during Vietnam, told me:” being a soldier in a war such as this, you wake up and go to sleep hoping God is on your side. The second you start questioning that, that’s when everything starts screwing you up!!”
When I joined the Army, my grandpa drove for 12 hours to tell me one thing. "In combat, there are no right answers. There is only the answer that you can live with."
Because if they didn't have the illusion of a God on their side to justify what they do, then one day they would wake up and realize the horror.
Old quote, been on the internet in one form or another for years.
Have you listened to The Man in Black by Johnny Cash
Trust me there is no method the Belgians considered unsound when dealing with the people of the Congo.
Unless the methods in question didn't maximize profit
King leopold would like a word with you.
I, too, thought that.
The only unsound methods are those contained in leaving the citizens in peaceful and independent union.
hey, I am a Belgian, and in this context, not proud of it... but what nation is free of 'guilt' of exploiting another 'weaker' nation? not seeking for excuses, just saying, almost no nation is free of guilt of misbehaviour.. (and I am being gentle in my choice of words, remembering the (european) settlers treating the native Americans)
@@funbobby8416 definitely not blaming Belgians today for what happened in the past, I know tons of countries were into colonialism that doesn’t mean I’m gonna look at the people that way.
8:25
"If you can eat your food while everyone else is losing theirs, you straight homey"
- Big Smoke
Man, I forgot how much I love this film. From Brando giving an utterly chilling performance to the cinematography to the dialogue… everything is just so darn great. I feel like every time I’ve watched the movie I pick up something else or find another meaning in Kurtz, Kilgore, or Willard’s actions or philosophy.
The narrator's voice is GOLD.
I always interpreted the snail on the razor blade as an analogy of mans relationship to time; though we progress forward second by second, time slowly but surely eviscerates us at the most vulnerable of places until we crawl ourselves in half on it and submit to the natural conclusion of life.
This is a fundamental conundrum of civilization: you need monsters to protect yourself from other monsters, those sharing the same aggressive ideology: victory at any cost. And so you have Williard pitted against Kurtz. But it's a losing battle, as your own monsters take over, and eventually the world - as it is today - is populated mainly by groups of monsters fighting each other, with the debris of humans and other species scattered as collateral damage.
You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill...
What year is it???????
That is the level most people seem to be content at. Sadly, most western people today are mentally infantile cowards. It wasn't always so.
@@herptek All true, but most people, like me, have made peace with the fact that there is nothing we can do about it.
@@thepartydontstoptilliwalkin Only you can do anything about yourself...
@@lawoull.6581 late 1969 maybe
Your analysis of this character is both haunting and spot on.
Couldn't agree more
@@redstaplerguyforlifepastpr5763 thanks.
Maybe you could do Colonel Konrad (or perhaps Captain Walker, given what happens) from Spec Ops: The Line, a cult-classic video game whose story is also loosely based on Heart Of Darkness.
Agreed. My favorite “War Shooter” game. It’s story goes deep like this film... disturbing, while also very engaging as it’s character’s, story, setting constantly has you dropping further into the hell that’s become Dubai.
Also it’s one of those rare games where upon repeat plays, the brilliant foreshadowing stares you in the face.
And endless loop of personal hell.
When my son was 8 or 9 years old I allowed him to watch the scene of Kurtz and Willard speaking. My son paid close attention, and after a while said "It seems like that guy (Kurtz) is crazy, and he wants to make the other guy crazy." The kid understood better than I.
“He’s not so bad, he’s really just an odd man.”
“And I shaved my head like Dennis Rodman.”
“He’s a god, man!”
Watch me do a Hula dance
To shake the egg rolls from my pants
4:40 - During its wars and other interventions in South East Asia, most particularly in Vietnam, The United States lost so much more than military casualties. It lost part of its soul.
In my opinion, the true tragedy behind Kurtz’ character is the ultimate ineffectiveness of his methods.
He believed using brutality and extreme psychological warfare would win the war as it would demoralize the NVA and Vietcong and eventually break their will to fight. He believed using their own methods against them would have the same effect it was having on his own troops. Unfortunately, this well-founded conviction didn’t account for one thing: the NVA and Vietcong understood the only way they could defeat the US was by outlasting them. Therefore, they were willing to endure anything which was thrown at them. It didn’t matter how many casualties, losses or setbacks they suffered, as long as they had enough resources, manpower and support to fight the Americans, they would never, ever stop. To paraphrase Willard in the movie, “Charlie had only two ways home: death, or victory.”
In essence, Kurtz’ “descent into madness” was all for nothing. Everything he did, going rogue, committing numerous atrocities and sacrificing every ounce of his own humanity and morality, was in the name of winning the war, and yet the way he fought it wouldn’t, and didn’t, make even the slightest difference. He became so obsessed with “utilizing his primordial instincts to kill without feeling… without passion… without judgement…,” he didn’t even realize his methods weren’t actually working. Once again, to quote Willard in the movie, “I don’t see… any method… at all, sir.”
I mean, the Japanese and the Germans went all the way, but that didn't win them the war.
What a waste of talent!
You make it seem like his descent into madness was on purpose rather than the effects of mental deterioration. Pretty sure it had a little bit of both.
Disagree. Remember Kurtz was actually succeeding in his battles. Why? Because he stepped out of mediocrity of 'the system'. To boot, he's actual more moral than those he broke with. (More in the sense that he was authentic and cared for his men). So it's an interesting dynamic. Whether his 'methods' would have been different in the actual war, I don't think that is the point of the film philosophically.
It's a study of (war in this case) the dark heart (for lack of a better description) of man, and the descent into the abyss. A man, driven in stages, to do what many likely did which basically shatters them. There are other themes too, but I always got that out of it.
"We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write 'Fuck' on their aeroplane, because, it's obscene."
That was the line. Not 'obscenities'. 'Fuck'. The way you said it, the censored way, ruined the flow of it, and turned it into a tautology.
I get why you did it though.
You did not want to be demonetized.
We allow CZcamsrs to talk about murder, and war, and evil, in their videos. But we don't want them to say 'Fuck', because, it's Obscene.
Truly, Morality has abandoned us all.
@Dexy Nash boo hoo
what an ironic country.
The Horror..What have we become?
Amen!🙏✌
@Dexy Nash Have you ever been to america? as a someone who was born and raised here I can say with upmost certainty that 90% of americans dont gaf about showing titties or cussing, kinda sounds to me like you just wanted to jump on a fuck america bandwagon grow up you can't demonize an entire country you dick
Colonel Kurtz is probably the only villain in film I've seen(and I've seen PLENTY of movies) that actually lives up to all the tension and suspense the rest of the movie builds.
I am a seasoned 70 yr old . In 1976 it took me less than 2 weeks in Rhodesia with some SAS Mercs and Selous ScoutsThe 1st pile of Children's arms put me in touch with what we all bury . We caught up in 2 days and left 3 alive . They honored me with 1 Terr to play with till we got extracted in 2 days . He lived and was given Hospital but I had him saw off his arm and a foot to slow his gait down forever . Its hard getting the dark buried again . Cheers
An outstanding presentation in all respects. And, a most important one.
I think so too, I really enjoyed this...., didn't think I would since I've seen it more than once.
I have talked to my father and other vets from that era and area...and what I have gathered from them is that there was one major theme that ruled over all others....and that was total and complete chaos, the military leaders lacked focus, and an end goal, so how could anyone really be surprised when some individual goes off the reservation???
i’ve literally watched all of these in order backwards
who will help the widow's son?
Lmao same
rock on man
Marlon Brando will always stand as one of the most brilliant actors
Calling him "brilliant" is an understatement.
and the most deffecult to work with
6:09..." groomed for a top position in the military " Groomed for a top position in the " Corporation ".
Ever seen Aguirre: the Wrath of God? It would be awesome to see you analyze that character. Klaus Kinski killed it with his performance.
There are two characters in fiction that are probably my favorite when examining the nature of evil. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, and Judge Holden (The Judge) from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. If you’ve ever read the book, I’d love to watch an analysis
Weirdly they both look pretty much the same as well
When there is no consequence for action, reward or ruin, the insanity is to continue on as mindless as a machine as stupid as the snail on the razor. That is America.
I've seen this film a million times and the snail on the razor is the piece of the puzzle that escaped me. I will never loose this symbolism again.
Bravo.
He didn't hate America; he hated "the corporation" (the "grocers"): those who ran the war (politicians, mostly) and profited from it (politicians and industrialists). It wasn't an American war; it was LBJ's war.
@@MCOult but Kennedy started it and Nixon continued it. So....
A superb analysis of one of literature and cinema's most notorious characters..I really enjoyed this and learned quite a bit too...Many thanks for posting...
Kurtz left a major impression on my mind as a villain. It's hard to pin down what makes him so compelling but no other villain in media is so compelling to me. I think part of it is learning about him along with Willard, and not seeing him for so long. I still want to know more about him even after the movie is over. Heart Of Darkness is equally great and I loved it as well
I am so thankful to have found your channel! I'm currently writing about a character whose actions are deemed evil and these videos have been really helpful in picking out the minute intricacies. Keep up the awesome content!
Politicians have no concept of HORROR , have them strap on some body armor and a helmet in 120 degree weather, then tell me to select certain targets when they’re life is in danger and live rounds are whizzing past they’re head
*YOU* chose. *CHOOSE* wisdom as only solitude would have it. Violence is unnatural hence combat in all it's diplomacy. Press....charges....
@@StevenMichaelCunningham wise words, but that’s the problem sometimes, it’s a WAR, not a diplomatic mission, and when the diplomats handcuffed the military, maybe this is what might happen
@@jeffyoung1349 hence devotion 👣
@@jeffyoung1349 state it as such & wave fare thee well to stress on any level.
@@jeffyoung1349 👣
"Are my methods unsound?"
One of my favorite lines in the film.
The horror......the horror.
A victory at a cost too high is just a defeat you choose for yourself.
Bravo! Well structured with a beautiful ending.
Brando rules as kurtz amazing acting.
***...that whole monologue about the arms. ...its so true what he says about his reaction of how awful it was to witness but he cant and wont forget it. And in turn LEARNS from the pain of it. ...spoke too deeply that. I know exactly what he meant. Deep lessons in the Contemplations of Pain***
Same. Well put
Well done! I saw Apocalypse Now when first came out in 1979. I was in my early twenties and some of the themes escaped me at the time. Your analysis has helped to bring it together. Many thanks!
Your voice reminds me of Agent 47, very clear and somber. And this episode is phenomenal, I’m just now starting the series but I’m looking forward to watching the rest!
Who's Agent 47?
@@Ringohulk777 The protagonist of the Hitman video game franchise.
@@gamefiends7420 thank you
This was freaking brilliant. Well done sir.
The dream of the snail and the straight razor is a good option interpretation but I think you may have it backwards. In my opinion the razor represents the American military, a deadly, sharp piece of steel. However, the snail glides easily along it's length, moving slowly and methodically over the finely honed steel of the American military machine without getting cut. It's soft power dominates the razor.
Also, sad to say, Kurtz was right.
This video was mesmerizing. First time viewing your channel and I can’t think of a better way to have spent my time. Cheers.
Please to a analysis of agent Kurtz from Heart of Darkness.
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” (attribution uncertain)
George Orwell quote...I think.
But the rough men that have stoude
By &carried out the violence can no longer sleep peacefully in their own bed! Author: any combat vetl
QI: this saying was introduced by Richard Grenier who was attempting to provide a pithy representation of an idea he ascribed to George Orwell. Later writers and speakers turned his phrase into a quotation and directly attached it to Orwell. Over time variants were constructed with modified phrasing.
Orwell did make statements that shared points of similarity with the saying, but none closely matched it. It is conceivable that a closer match exists, but multiple researchers have attempted to find the saying in Orwell’s corpus and none have succeeded at this time.
''We do disagreeable things so that ordinary people here and there can sleep comfortably in their beds'' John Le Carre -' The spy who came in from the cold'
Excellent! Thanks so much!
No thank you!
I appreciate that your playlist is in order from Oldest to newest. Thank you and of course for the videos. Just starting today
brilliant. one of my all time fave movies, and one of the early factors in my greater disillusionment about society, government, war, morality, etc
A first-class analysis, bravo.
The US actually lost more men in Vietnam than the Soviets lost in Afghanistan.
Both sides had an actual military and fought set piece battles. The Afghans never got out of the guerilla stage with the Soviets. The Soviet economy just couldn’t take the material losses. Especially after they started losing aircraft in great numbers.
@@williamsmith8790 thanks to the CIA arming the Mujahedeen 🤫
@@rickc2102 That’s correct. So the US won that war.
Tangentially, sure. We won as an extension of the guerrilla movement
Jack Wilson
Just as the Soviet Union won in Vietnam
Fantastic. Thank you for creating such a wonderful portrait.
Binge watching your channel now and digging it. Good stuff! Like your calm, cool and collected voice delivery.
The lines about the inoculated children arms being cut off.... so "clearly " shows the fulcrum of the mindset and point in Kurtz. In mood and narrative.
Very enjoyable review Vile Eye, second of your videos I have watched.
This video needs more views,I honestly have found so many good movies and characters to view from watching your channel,you earned a sub from me.
Thank you for saying so, I’m glad I could do that for you!
2 years later and your channel is awesome! Keep up the great work!!!
Wow, that’s superb! You’ve made me want to reread Heart if Darkness again. Thank you.
Excellent analysis. Kurtz isn't inherently evil, I feel, but rather mortally corrupted by it.
The us armed the viet minh
to fight the japanese
Then they used the arms to fight
The french
Ike vetoed us involvement
In 1954
Ten years later LBJ said
Let's go in
Why?
This is by far some of the greatest content om CZcams. Thanks for creating this channel
Great Video! I was immersed! Thank you! It brought it (the movie) all back for me from when I was a kid and went to find the Heart of Darkness in my search for the origins. Excellent job on this one! T
This is really great stuff! Please do one on Colonel Jessup from A Few Good Men. I always watch that movie before I start writing a new villain.
i took the opposite meaning of the nightmare of the snail: the razor blade being the ineffectual commitment of the US military, and the snail being the Vietnamese treading over it without harm. Kurtz would’ve used a figurative hammer to finish the job.
I had to come back to this post. Now after so many great post's and so many great characters I appreciate this video which is easily my favorite (For several reasons, mostly personal) but as always.. A great interpretation of a great character. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Heart of Darkness is my favorite book; I end up rereading it almost every year. I just discovered your channel & I would love to see a video analysis on Kurtz. Great work & I will be watching for more
I found your channel and love the analysis you give on the characters. I was hoping you could analyze Kevin from the movie “we need to talk about Kevin” . Thank you for this content!
Bit of stretch to call Kurtz "evil", he simply represents the duality of war.
In warfare there's two kinds of mentalities --- those who fight with their hands tied, under strict rules of engagement & sense of honor.
Then there's those who fight HOWEVER they need to win.
Sun Szu himself said in Art of War, it is critical to take advantage of the enemy's disadvantages as well as use deception & cunning
Ex. USA Vs. NLF (Vietcong)
Ex. USA Vs. Taliban
Ex. GB Vs Afghans
Ex. French Vs. Vietminh
Self deception is how YOU got here. Any who are abusive at all are corrupted as instinct denotes.
The Machievellian argument is that the most decisive ending to a conflict is the most moral one. In which case, Kurtz is the moral superior.
@@jfkst1 truth is what matters though. Next.
love your series on analyzing evil b/c it's amazing plus we get your insight into such iconic villains ( or in Micheal corleones case a very tragic villain we saw to his descent )
Great video! I hope you don’t fall into a dark hole breaking down these videos. Take it easy and take a break and have pure joy every now and again!
That dude don't need a degree in psychology! Brilliant!
Given that Brando apparently ad libbed everything I believe the snail and razor might have been intentionally vague, and mainly served as a really cool line. But if I had to give my 2 cents I’d say that the snail is what Kurtz aspires to become. Moving forward through the chaos, horror and danger, completely indifferent to it all. Just as Willard behaves on his trip down the river.
I think I like this essay the best of all the essays I have seen by Th Vile eye guy. This one is exploring the nature of someone who could be bad, could be good, could be crazy...., really depending on one's own expectations. It is more open to interpretation then most of VE's essays, where the villain is obviously evil, and the vile guy is just telling us how they are.
Your videos are truly great, please keep them coming!!
When you talk about America being the snail, and how other countries have suffered, I'm suprised you didn't mention Vietnam. The country was ravaged by the war. Unlike the Americans, the Vietnamese were fighting in their homeland against a massive military industrial war machine. They had everything to lose and were willing to fight not just militarily but also in terms of public image and perception. This war was a disaster, and Kurtz is a reflection of how an American military man has degenerated into a monster. The consequences of fighting a war that should have never been fought. Good vid bro.
Love ❤️ and respect to whoever severed and died and stood by the brother next to you, y’all didn’t deserve what y’all came gone to
Really good video. Not just in analysis and narration but how you put it together.
One of my top ten. BRAVO
I remember an incident that actually happened , where a Vietnamese National working with Special Forces , was a suspected double agent that was quietly executed by some Special Forces operators ...
They were too open and honest about it .
They got caught .
There was a huge outcry and the SF troops were brought up on charges .
I think this incident was used as inspiration for that part of the movie .
Where Kurtz is accused of assassinating four individuals .
In real life , patrols stopped being ambushed and the enemy stopped receiving inside information on operations as soon as the individual was eliminated .
They hit the right guy .
The reason they didn’t take it to higher authority , was because he was protected by Communist sympathizers higher up , and compromised individuals in the American chain of command .
There were many factions inside the US military , some working against each other ... especially against SF operations... and MACV-SOG .
I understood it perfectly , as soon as I heard about it .
The civilian press in the US went to town with the story , as they always do .
They wanted to couch it as if it was a huge miscarriage of justice ... murder against someone innocent until proven guilty ... to be brought to trial in a courtroom....
Not a spy imbedded in a combat unit , in the field , getting men killed every time a patrol left the wire .
Intrigue and the secret intel war doesn’t work that way .
There was never going to be a trial , in court , with irrefutable evidence ...
If they didn’t take him out , he would keep killing people , or fade away , compromising the unit with his knowledge of their operations .
Maybe even be attached to another unit under a different name , to do it all again .
The press in the US were made up of Communist sympathizers then , anyway , just like they are today .
The civilians back home were completely ignorant of the realities of the war , kept so intentionally... and wanted to judge things on high moral grounds , rather than operational contingencies .
Dirty , brutal truths ... boots in the mud .
The whole movie was showing that juxtaposition.... admittedly overblown for shock value .
Kurtz was right .
If you want to win the war ... any war , you would have to fight it his way .
If you don’t want to win , don’t get in them to begin with .
Stop wasting your young men’s lives to virtue signal your oh-so-moral stances ...
War , by its nature , is immoral to a civilian ... soldiers have their own morals , they are not the same .
Preach, brother. Though few will listen.
@@sheldoniusRex
It does no good .
Those that operate in the shadows , out in the dark ... outside conventional mores , rules and tactics ...
The world of unconventional and asymmetrical warfare ... COIN and various ongoing , overlapping clandestine Intel operations ...
They already know ...
Conventional military leaders and civilians can’t comprehend tradecraft , or the expedient actions , black ops , that are done on their behalf .
SF Operators , by their very nature , are outside the “ normal “ bounds of society .
The ROE that conventional forces operate under .
The restraints THEY are placed under , are what works ... what is effective ... not some ideal driven , moral virtue signaling by a bunch of posturing politicians , or a hide bound group of generals busy fighting the last war ( badly ) ... and especially not the ignorance of Monday morning civilian quarterbacks , second guessing their actions after the fact .
It is a brutal world of betrayal and intrigue.... of “ need to know “ and secrets guarded by layers of lies .
Where nothing is what it seems , no one is above suspicion .
Your best friend might be a traitor , and high ranking enemy officials may be a secret asset for your side .
Where factions inside your own organization may turn on you and leave you out in the cold ( or dead ) for their own political gain .
Nothing is ever a sure thing .
You do your job , and hope you don’t end up in another deal like the guys in Benghazi... protecting a compound and a principle that the higher ups have already written off ... maybe even set up to take a fall ...
There you are ...
Disavowed and hung out to dry ... again .
Wow! The character that inspired you to start this channel??? Cool!
Nice touch adding the pic of Brando in uniform at the end, from, I believe, "Reflection in a Golden Eye".
Very well presented - thank you
Kurtz wasn't evil. He was pragmatic
When you see Kurtz for what he is, it’s like being shot in the forehead, shot in the forehead with a diamond bullet...
Love reading these comments, so many intelligent people with different theories. Thank you for uploading this and starting a great conversation! You got a sub from me
Top 5 if not number 1 performance of all time on the big screen. I guess as a vet I'm bias but I always loved this movie growing up, but after 8 years in the Army and time spent in Iraq and I came back to the world and decided to watch the extended cut, the movie took on an energy that was not felt previously. It was truly a journey and every word Brando spoke cut through me. I hung on to every word with more understanding then ever on how he felt. This movie truly made me love the art that is film making. You will never see movies like this made again and the fact that production of this film was insane and it still came out a masterpiece.