Written by Mr. Mouseburger 21st Feb 2006
Kindly submitted by Bodhi
Willard is sent on a secret mission into Cambodia to kill insane ex-Green Beret, Colonel Kurtz. Having been captured, Kurtz keeps Willard alive and tests him, and only because of Willard's strength does Kurtz allow Willard to be the one to take him out at the end. We shouldn't forget that Willard's narration adds so much to help justify why this killing is necessary and explain that Kurtz just wanted to go out like a man, like a soldier.
The beauty in the symbolism of Kurtz's killing, [hacked to death with a machete] intercut with the tribe's ritual killing of the sacrificial cow/ox is a fantastic piece of cinematography.
And then, even after he's dead, Kurtz leaves a message for Willard to find that the U.S. needs to "kill them all", indicating his own acknowledgement and remorse for what he created with his Montignard army of mercenaries. It's poetry, philosophy, religion, politics all wrapped up in a self-realized sacrifice!
Bodhi also wrote some interesting comments, which i think are worth including in this section, as they seem more apt here rather than in the write up.
Bodhi wrote
I just think that the irony of the U.S. trying to kill one of their own, because he's gone renegade and is getting the results the U.S. should be getting, is amazing. That the U.S. sends an assassin to kill a man that wants to die, but won't until a worthy man can do it, is so feudal Japan/Samurai. A man out of time and out of his place in history. Because the Vietham War was such a hypocritcal farce, many good people died for nothing. There was nothing glorious or cool about Kurtz's death. He just didn't want it to be futile -- to have his life be futile.
I doubt there will ever be death scenes as deep and emotionally, philosophically and as metaphysically charged as this one.
I do feel that Roy Batty's death in Blade Runner is a close second place. But, being a replicant that dies, isn't the same as being a real human that sacrifices yourself. Just my humble opinion.