Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (DVD)

To say I was disappointed in Hearts of Darkness would be an understatement. I had heard all this hoopla surrounding the film and how it shows the raw emotion of filmmaking at its very best, but come on, there isn't much here. Sure, this was an intense venture that took longer than most films spend in pre-production, production, post and even a theatrical run now days, but Hearts of Darkness is more of a special feature than anything all that intense, especially after last year's release Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier, which this really should have been a part of.

Hearts of Darkness was filmed and is narrated by Eleanor Coppola (Francis Ford's wife) and was edited down and directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper. It is a 96 minute feature that does offer up some interesting looks at the making of Apocalypse Now, including some of the more embarrassing things that Coppola may not have wanted you to see, but that is exactly what makes it so good, and it also seems to be the reason this film was re-released on DVD.

There is an audio commentary with Francis and his wife Eleanor, whom for some reason don't record their comments together. Instead it is a pieced together commentary and primarily dominated by Eleanor as Francis pretty much only lends his voice to "clear" things up. Gimme a break, you get the feeling he is only returning to do this commentary to try and smooth over any rough water the doc may have caused. Too bad it is 16 years since the film was first released and I think the damage has already been done Francis.

What would have been more interesting and more worth our time would be to see early footage with Harvey Keitel as Willard, before he was replaced by Martin Sheen. Seriously, how do you have a documentary about a film and not include footage of the actor originally playing the film's main character? (Note: We will never see this footage so it is hardly worth discussing beyond those two sentences.) It would have also been more interesting to hear Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper, whom are only referenced in the commentary briefly, but their opinions are never heard.

On top of "clearing the air" this DVD is also being released to help promote Coppola's next outing Youth Without Youth, which hasn't gotten very good buzz so far. There is a second documentary filmed and narrated once again by Eleanor looking at the making of that film, but it is far from interesting, it is generic. Sure, there are a few moments of Francis speaking candidly, but for the most part it is a tame look at the making of a film most people will never see, and even more will never even hear about.

Hearts of Darkness is a feature length DVD special feature at best. I have seen some other reviews complaining about picture quality and the fact that it isn't remastered and cleaned up, but that is such a trivial complaint, especially considering this is only a documentary, not something you are going to be watching over and over again. Suffice to say, if you are interested give it a rent, otherwise don't worry about it.