How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Apocalypse Now.
Quote #7
PHOTOJOURNALIST: I wish I had words, man. I wish I had words...I can tell ya something like the other day he wanted to kill me. Somethin' like that...
WILLARD: Why'd he wanna kill you?
PHOTOJOURNALIST: Because I took his picture. He said "If you take my picture again, I'm gonna kill you." And he meant it.
Why doesn't Kurtz want his picture taken? Is he buying into a superstition of the Montagnards who follow him? Or is it that he doesn't want his current degraded state to be witnessed by the world?
Quote #8
PHOTOJOURNALIST: The heads. You're looking at the heads. Sometimes he goes too far. He's the first one to admit it.
The film is teasing us again. Kurtz does crazy things, but he knows they're pretty extreme. If he were really crazy, would he have that ability to reflect and judge his actions? On the other hand, if you displayed some chopped-off heads once and regretted it, we'd think you probably wouldn't do it again.
Quote #9
PHOTOJOURNALIST: Why would a nice guy like you want to kill a genius? Why? Because they told you he was crazy? The Colonel is not crazy. The man is clear in his mind, but his soul is mad.
The journalist says that the Colonel is clear in his mind because he really does think extreme brutality is necessary to win the war. But his soul is mad, because at some level Kurtz is horrified by what he's doing. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad wrote: "I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself." That struggle seems to be why Kurtz almost welcomed Willard to kill him. He knew what he had to do to win, but couldn't take it any longer.