Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse | |
| Director: | Fax Bahr, Eleanor Coppola, George Hickenlooper |
| Genre: | Film, Documentary |
Some people think this 1991 documentary about the making of Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now is more cogent and entertaining that the film it's supposed to be about. And some people may be right. In Hearts of Darkness, co-directors Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper use behind-the-scenes footage shot by Coppola's wife, Eleanor, to explain just exactly went right (and, more often, wrong) during the marathon shoot in the jungles of the Philippines: heart attacks, nervous breakdowns, financial woes, marital strife, tropical storms, military unrest, and, after all that, a grossly overpaid star who doesn't know his lines. The story of how Francis Ford Coppola huffed and puffed and dragged Apocalypse Now across the finish line and into film history is essential viewing for movie geeks and a fascinating paean to human endurance for just about anyone else.