Apocalypse Now- Hotel Room Scene Film Form Analysis

 The hotel room scene from Apocalypse Now continues the same warm colour scheme shown in the previous scene and will continue over the course of the film. At first when we hear Willard's narration we see the camera is steady and focused, however as he starts to break down it begins to lose control and we see bombings again, just like in the previous scene. This as well as the previous scene are an interesting look into Willard's psyche which becomes much more relevant at the ending, where we see mirroring shots. It makes use of noir-esque lighting, for example the light coming through the blinds shining on Willard's face, which is common imagery shown in the noir films of the 1940s. This is apt for many reasons, from the moral ambiguity and alcoholism of Willard's character to the narration which is also a common feature of noir films. 

Similarly to the previous scene, the editing in the hotel room is frantic and unconventional. It uses fades and montage while Willard is just sitting in his room to show large amounts of time are passing despite him doing nothing with it besides drinking, which eventually leads to his breakdown. There is no longer any order to the shots and it is once again layered with the bombing of the jungle. The montage use continues into the breakdown of Willard even when it is clearer that less time is passing. There are even visible cuts within what looks like the same movements. We see a similar editing style in the ending when Willard murders Kurtz, taking out his built up anger and frustration that we first see in this scene.

In this scene, Willard is shown drinking heavily multiple times, which shows us  a lot about the severity of his alcoholism without ever telling the audience. Also, the fact that he's only in his underwear for the entirety of the scene also shows us that he is not well put together and does not take care of himself, and has not had any contact with the outside world for as long as he was in the room, which is never made clear, but is presumably a long time by the use of montage. This reflects the ending as once again, he no longer takes care of himself, but at this point not by his own doing.

Willard's voiceover in this scene gives us insight into his psyche. While the previous scene had lyrics that implied the soldiers relationship with the Vietnam war. The voiceover in this scene confirms it, especially in the line "When I was here, I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I could think about was getting back into the jungle." This shows his complicated, confusing and frustrating relationship with Vietnam. While he does not want to be there, there is nowhere else for him to go. The sound effects in this scene, for example the party heard in the distance, and the flies in his room highlights how isolated and lonely he is, which is also expanded upon in the voiceover where Willard says "I hardly said a word to my wife until I said yes to a divorce."  All of this boils up into the second half of the scene where Willard begins to break down, The End by The Doors also plays once again, however, now it is the ending of the song, where the music is chaotic and there is no lyrics besides the vocalist shouting obscenities, which is potentially the most accurate way to portray Willard's mindset in this scene.

 

For the first half of the scene Martin Sheen asWillard is expressionless and emotionless, he appears to be numb and potentially depressed in the way that he carries himself as well as reliving unwanted memories. His posture and body language are also lazy, as if he is dragging himself around the hotel room; we only see him slumped over or laying down, and movement appears to be a chore in situations where he must move, for example, when he reaches for the picture on his bedside table. We also see him crouched, as if he is feeling cornered by his emotions and he is making himself smaller to hide from them. This indicates that he is at a breaking point which is made evident by the second half of the scene where he suffers a mental breakdown. The next shot of him we see is him dancing peacefully or doing what appears to be yoga, here he is attempting to keep his composure, but in the next shot where he stares into the camera with an expression of anger, intercut with the same stare but this time in camouflage paint, showing the experiences of war returning to him, or never leaving him, we see that this is not working. For the rest of the scene we see Willard wrestling with himself, metaphorically wrestling with his own demons. This part of the performance was real as Sheen also had struggles he was "wrestling" with and it shows with the intensity of the performance, especially in the fact that he punched a mirror and bled over the sheets of the bed, and the crying at the end of the scene,