As I watched one of my new favorite films for the first time a few days ago, Apocalypse Now, the central villain of discussion was the main antagonist, Colonel Walter Kurtz, who was a special forcesofficer for the US Army at the time of the Vietnam war in the film. As we follow other US Army members who don’t associate with Kurtz, and captain Benjamin Willard who’s sent on a mission to take theColonel down, Colonel Kurtz is spoken of as if he’s a sort of devil even before getting formally introduced to us physically way later on in the film. Before then, we only have dialogue descriptorsof him being a ruthless man who sends out absurd and insane orders to his army men in Cambodia, hoping they’ll win the war through proceeding with these crazy asks. However, Kurtz isn’t the onlyvillain wreaking unforgivable havoc of war in this film. In fact, American troops and the leader of them may be almost just as bad.
The name of the man leading the American army is Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, who’s seen for a short time in the film, leading the American men into the battle and destruction of a Vietnamese village. His philosophy of war is different from Kurtz’s, but not much less wretched and haunting. Rather than solely forcefully making his men commit atrocities of violence in demanding orders, he motivates them as well through his own individual mindset. In the midst of the havoc and destruction, he takes pride in these acts rather than simply saying the job is done. He says the words to be exact of “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell? The whole hill. Smelled like victory. Someday this war’s gonna end.” He seems visibly emotionally proud of not only the violence his men struck that day, but always proud of it, and proud of the concept of war itself. He never looks in disgust in killing or destroying from war, but has a strong desire and appreciation for doing it. It’s a sinister and vile way of humanity to grapple with that comes from multiple factors
One obvious factor could be from nationalism or having pride in the concept fighting for a country. War isn’t just a commitment to putting your life on the line, but putting America’s future on the line, affected by the outcome of the effort you put into battle. So when we win and defeat many, it’s joy to not only them as troops but an entire country. Fighting on the frontlines and leading a whole country to victory comes with pleasure and boosted pride in oneself, and people will do anything for that, including build a stirring desire to kill in order to win in battle which eventually cultivates to enjoyment of that tendency. Besides nationalism, human nature has always been corrupt through impulsion and illogical thinking of inner desire. When you’re that desperate for a goal with heightened stakes such as war, human nature corrodes the mind and gives a deep sense of urgency to act on that goal, even if it means turning into a reckless ape as a result. The corruption of war beyond anything for him, is habitually engrained in his brain for a deep desire and love to do it for the battlefield of fighting for a nation.
Colonel Kurtz however, is a different breed of evil and will not stop his act at simply being human impulsion and a matter of wanting to kill, but more so a matter of having to kill. He feels it deeply in his soul that the acts of war that scar many are absolutely necessary. It’s not something he longs to do in his heart, in fact it’s never stated really that he loves what he does like Kilgore. Another difference from Kilgore is that he’s more rational with his plans and devises of orders even though it may seem as opposite through his ruthless menace that is a threat enough on its own. He reads poetry in his spare time and even has a poetic quote of his own when being finally met with his enemy Ben Willard, looking to take him down. “Horror has a face and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies” Kurtz says with a look and deep voice of menace. The idea of horror itself in this context, has much more to do with war than nasty images of blood from gun wounds of dead bodies 10 feet deep in the mud, or even the own bodies Kurtz has laying all around near his opponents in the land. The horror includes all of that just mentioned, but it also included instilling fear into your opponents to gain the upper hand. Instilling fear and control over the men he leads in army to make them his puppets who’ll do whatever he says to help you him carry out that sinister battle plan. The difference that sets Kurtz apart is that he knows he’s wrong, he knows his acts are indeed a “terror”, but he ignores the fact because he has to do whatever must be done to win war. At least in his mind that’s all that has to be done
He’s sees the corruption of war as an absolutely vital act you must go through with. No matter how corrupt or wrong against human morality, it’s the only way to victory. The essence of the quote is to never give the enemies an upper hand. Never let them think they’re tougher, more menacing, or more capable to fulfill a plan to fight for victory in battle. Even if that means deranged and criminal acts to the edge of humanity’s limits, he sees it as worth it. Worth living a fighting legacy that while corrupt, did live with a whimper or cowardly reluctance to challenges. He’s a ruthless animal and ape even worse than imaginable. Fully aware of his actions and the reasons to be held accountable but still not backing down from them. Kurtz and Kilgore are both different species of evil, but still animals nonetheless. Their philosophies of war are different, but still share a common denominator of being wild zombies in the apocalypse of war. Running around relentlessly under the spell of conviction that destroying humanity in these grotesque minded ways are necessary and/or deeply fulfilling.
