End of Apocalypse Now - Analysis

 The end of Apocalypse Now is very significant because throughout the ending scenes if you look closely there's a lot of thought put into it, one major factor that adds onto this thought is the aesthetics, the dark lighting and the weather. These dark lighting aesthetics were applied because of Kurtz actor, Marlon Brando, since he didn't wanna be seen as a "fat crazy man" , and the fact that Coppola let actors apply ideas into the scenes is what differentiates from the average movie where the actors do everything the director does, this sense of letting actors imply ideas and help form a great scene is what Coppola's aueteurship is all about.

The soundtrack also breaks the rules of the typical movie since Coppola didn't want to use a typical, grim type of soundtrack to match with the ending as Willard gets closer to Kurtz to kill him, he wanted to use a mix of both cherish and grim soundtracks and mix them together to create a perfect mix of the two to sort of match the dancing and chanting of the people in the village and match the killing of Kurtz. This is furthermore mirrored by the fact that as the people of the village kill the cow, Kurtz is aso getting killed, this mirrors alongside with the sountrack and overall just synchronize well together.

After Willard has killed Kurtz as Willard walks out with blood all over him and his face still covered up the village's people stare at him as they slowly start to bow down, this kind of signifies how while Willard has his face covered he has the chance to take over Kurtz's spot as the scene shows how his face is covered, and his hand gripping onto Kurtz's diary book. This scene is very powerful because it adds a sense of power as Willard looks down onto all these people bowing down to him whilst he walks away.

Lastly in the scene where Willard is on the boat , about to commence his way back from finishing his mission you see Willard look at the village whilst rain falls on his face, and his face that was once covered slowly starts to fade away, this symbolises how his "chance" to replace Kurtz and rule over the village is fading away just like his face-cover, the aesthetics in this scene are significant as you see that while the boat is slowly leaving the scene fades onto a buddhist statue adding on this sense of god and power.