Set mostly in the jungles of Vietnam, Apocalypse Now explores the complexities of colonialism and justice as the soldiers descend further into the jungle’s darkness. Overtime, the movie reveals the more sinister underlying actions taken by American leaders contrasting the troops attempt to hold themselves on the moral side of a deadly war, demonstrating the fall from society and manmade law, into one of survival and nature. In the beginning, Captain Willard starts in civilization, the metropolitan city of Saigon. He must abide by human laws, the essence of nomos. Adhering to the rules, when he walks into the general’s office, he stands very tall and proper, and addresses everyone by their title while calling them “sir.” Willard is straightforward, even when initially conflicted by the charges against Colonel Kurtz, he still accepts the mission and diligently reads all of the paperwork. When Willard reaches Colonel Kilgore, he addresses him also with proper manners and states he is on a classified mission. However, the beginnings of the physis state shows-Kilgore does not listen to Willard’s mission statement, instead only going for his own pleasure of surfing. Kilgore is more ruled by his internal desires than to …show more content…
When Willard boards, Chief is wary of him but sticks to the military attitude of not asking questions and just operating the boat. However, over time, Chief begins to conflict with Willard’s command. Chief doesn’t listen to Willard when he pulls over the Vietnamese boat for inspection. Willard wants to continue, but Chief insists they pull over. Willard exposes his own darker side after he kills the woman when everyone else wanted to take her to treatment. This scene shows the greater transition to physis, the people are acting more from instinct and what they feel than acting out of the man made rules of what is or isn’t proper. Even Willard mused that he was beginning to understand how Kurtz must