Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Darkness
The omnipresent darkness in the film emphasizes the absence
of civilization. Much of the film is shrouded in shadow, and it
gets progressively darker as the PBR ventures farther into the jungle.
The cinematography transforms the river from a broad, gleaming waterway
to a dark, narrow stream overpowered by dense vegetation. The scene
of the arrow attack is bathed in blinding fog, while the bridge
scene is bathed in darkness, lit only by flares and what appears
to be a searchlight. The erratic light adds to the sense of confusion
and conveys the idea that the crew is now totally beyond the comforting
glow of civilization. The dark/light contrast is heightened when
Willard reaches Kurtz’s compound. Kurtz’s face is almost always
hidden in shadow; only rarely is it seen in full, and it is never
filmed in daylight. The climax of the film heightens the contrast
to an extreme, as Willard slaughters Kurtz in a scene backlit so that
the figures are silhouettes. While the action takes place in darkness,
the presence of light suggests a way out of madness.
Escape
The intensity of war leads the characters in Apocalypse
Now to seek escape. For some, escape comes in the form
of drugs or alcohol. When we are introduced to Willard, he is intoxicated
to the point of delusion—he practices martial-arts moves as if he
were fighting some imaginary enemy—and his intoxication is his mask
against the world. Chef and Lance also seek solace in intoxication,
with marijuana and LSD. The photojournalist’s mania suggests he
too is hopped up on something. Escape figures in the film not only
through drugs but also through frenetic lighting schemes and surrealistic sets.
Often, lighting schemes, especially in the slaughter scene, suggest
that despite the cloying pervasiveness of darkness, there is a bright
light somewhere, always some way out.
Home
The soldiers’ longing for home permeates the film, and
several scenes depict troops seeking reminders—any reminders—of
life in America. At Kilgore’s camp, Kilgore strums a guitar by the
fire. Willard reflects that “the more they tried to make it just
like home, the more they made everybody miss it.” Music and women,
especially, serve as symbols of home. Clean dances around to psychedelic
rock blasting through the radio. The Playmates shimmy and strut
to an emblematically American 1960s song,
“Suzie Q,” reminding the troops of home and how far they are from
it. The PBR crewmembers get mail at the bridge site, and they read
their letters out loud. The film emphasizes that home exists as
a faraway paradise for the troops. They are constantly missing it.
Invariably each reminder of home makes them miss it even more but
also serves to harvest further resentment for the forces that keep
them in this strange, dangerous place, rather than enjoying the
comfort and safety of the places they know best.
