Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, 1991.
Directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper.
Starring Eleanor Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, George Lucas, John Milius, and Martin Sheen.
SYNOPSIS:
If you’ve never seen Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, you’re in for a heck of a treat. The making of Francis Ford Coppola’s classic Apocalypse Now experienced all kinds of problems that posed grave threats to the director’s career, finances, and sanity, and yet somehow he and his cast and crew persevered through all of them and created a movie that’s still relevant, 46 years later. And all of it was captured not just on film but also on audio tapes secretly recorded by Coppola’s wife, Eleanor. Highly recommended.
Given the rough state of the archival footage found in this documentary, did Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper’s classic Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse really need a 4K Ultra HD release? I last saw this one on DVD, so I don’t know how much of a leap this disc is from its Blu-ray edition, but I suppose if you want to grab this one on home video, why not opt for the 4K Ultra HD version?
I should add that this disc is not the same one issued by Studio Canal in their Collector’s Edition this past summer. That one had more extras, along with a pair of Blu-ray platters featuring the same content as the 4K disc and more bonus features; they also threw in a couple posters and two booklets. And while the 4K disc is region-free, as all 4Ks are, the Blu-rays are locked to Region B. Maybe that edition will show up in North America eventually.
In the meantime, this disc should tide you over. If you’re like me and you’ve been a movie fan for the past several decades, you probably know what an insane production the filming of Apocalypse Now was, and how Hearts of Darkness does an amazing job of capturing all of it, between the footage shot on set and director Francis Ford Coppola’s rants and raves that were secretly recorded by his wife, Eleanor.
Bahr and Hickenlooper contrast those moments with interviews they filmed with the principal participants 15 years later, when everyone involved had a chance to process what they went through and reflect on all of it. The production was beset by all kinds of problems that extended the production timeline and created cost overruns that threatened to destroy Coppola’s finances and career. (I find it amusing that Eleanor looked back on all of that craziness with a level-headed view that was kind of like, “Well, if we ended up broke, that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing, because a lot of money was making our lives complicated anyway.”)
If you’ve never seen Hearts of Darkness, which takes its name from Heart of Darkness, the Joseph Conrad novella on which Apocalypse Now was loosely based, I highly recommend it, even if you’re not a fan of the film. Personally, I love Apocalypse Now, so I find Hearts of Darkness to be a fascinating trip to hell and back, much like the plot of the movie. I think it’s the movie that really captured the insanity of the Vietnam War, although I admit I say that as someone who didn’t actually experience it.
While this new 4K Ultra HD isn’t packed with extras, it does come with its own making-of documentary that runs 37 minutes. (Cue the jokes about making a making-of about the making-of of the making-of.) It’s a new production with interviews with Coppola, his kids Sofia and Roman, and Bahr, and it sheds light on some questions many have had about Hearts of Darkness, including the absence of Marlon Brando and Harvey Keitel, who was originally cast as Willard but replaced a few weeks into shooting.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
