Apocalypse Now - Redux [1979].
Conex Container scene.
Kurtz reads articles to Willard:
INT. CONEX
CONTAINER – DAY
Willard is passed out, lying on the floor of a metal CONEX
CONTAINER. Stifling heat.
Kurtz, and
a group of children, are peeking in at him.
The two front
doors of the container are opened. Light floods in. Kurtz is standing there
with the children. He holds a bunch of magazine articles.
He sits down on a
dirt step, surrounded by children. He looks down at a magazine article and
begins to read it to Willard.
KURTZ (reading):
"Time magazine."
"The weekly news magazine. September 22, 1967, volume ninety, number twelve. The
War on the Horizon."
"The American people may find it hard to believe that the
U.S. is winning the war in Vietnam."
"Nevertheless, one of the most exhaustive
inquiries into the status of the conflict yet compiled, offers considerable
evidence that the weight of U.S. power, two and a half years after the big
buildup began, is beginning to make itself felt. White House officials maintain
the impact of that strength may bring the enemy to the point where he could
simply be unable to continue fighting."
(to
Willard)
Is this familiar?
Willard
reacts.
KURTZ (reading):
"Because Lyndon Johnson fears that the U.S.
public is in no mood to accept its optimistic conclusions, he may never permit
the report to be released in full. Even
so, he is sufficiently impressed with the findings, and sufficiently anxious to
make their conclusions known, to permit experts who have been working on it to
talk about it in general terms." No date, Time Magazine.
"Sir Robert
Thompson, who led the victory over Communist guerrillas in Malaya, is now a
RAND Corporation consultant, recently returned to Vietnam to sound out the
situation for President Nixon."
"He told the president last week that things felt
much better, and smelled much better over there."
He looks over at Willard.
KURTZ (to Willard):
How do they smell to
you, soldier?
Willard doesn't answer.
Kurtz rises.
The children are laughing and giggling. Kurtz drops the magazine
articles in Willard's lap.
KURTZ:
You'll be free. You'll be under guard. Read
these at your leisure. Don't lose them. Don't try to escape, you'll be shot.
We
can talk of these things later.
Kurtz
turns and exits, closing one of the doors, leaving the other open.
Willard
watches him go. The children stay, looking at him, laughing and giggling.
Willard slowly and painfully pulls himself to his feet. He stands there a
moment looking at the children, then collapses to the floor.
DISSOLVE ...
