“Hearts of Darkness” is a 1991 documentary (available on Netflix) about the filming of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film, “Apocalypse Now.” I think I saw this documentary when I was in college. Perhaps when I was living with Kruiser. At the time I remember thinking that it was pretty awesome how insane everyone went while making “Apocalypse Now.” I recently re-watched this documentary and my reaction was pretty different this time around. What really stuck out this time was Coppola’s crushing self-doubt, something I find easy to relate to, and his resolve and persistence. The message that I took from it was that you have to finish. When working on a creative project (and I don’t just mean “creative” in that typical sense, I mean creative in that you are trying to solve a problem) you have to push on and finish. Even if it feels like your work is utter shit and the whole world is going to laugh at you. You have to finish.

I think that one of the things that get in the way of this is our inherent uneasiness with the unknown. As soon as we become fearful about what may or may not happen, the doubt creeps in and diverts us from our goals. Sometimes I guess you just have to  take a closer look at that fear and find peace with being unsure. Or maybe you just need to get wasted in a hotel room, punch a mirror and howl at the moon? (The scene above is of Martin Sheen filming a pivotal scene that sets up his character at the outset of the film).

Anyway, “Hearts of Darkness” is a great documentary and definitely worth checking out, regardless of how much you like or dislike “Apocalypse Now.”

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 11:42 am by Jason Hardy and is filed under Film & Television, Short-Form. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.