Apocalypse Now Redux Page #41

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 TO:

EXT. KURTZ COMPOUND - HIGH ANGLE - DAY

The river and temple.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. KURTZ COMPOUND - DAY

An unconscious Willard is being carried by some native

soldiers. They lay him gently on the floor of the temple.

Ladle water into his mouth, try to feed him rice. He turns

his head.

WHAT HE SEES:

Kurtz, in the shadows.

DISSOLVE TO:

WILLARD, HIS DELIRIUM

NATIVE EATING BOWL OF RICE IN CORRIDOR

DISSOLVE TO:

KURTZ CATCHING A FLY

DISSOLVE TO:

STONE STATUES:

KURTZ:

(reading)

"We are the hollow men and the

stuffed men together filled with

straw. Alas dried voices, when

whisper together quiet and

meaningless wind in dried rats'

feet over broken glass our dry

cellar."

DISSOLVE TO:

WILLARD AND THE PHOTOGRAPHER

In Kurtz's chamber. Willard is lying on a bed of sandbags.

The photographer is next to him. They are both listening

to Kurtz read the poem.

PHOTOGRAPHER:

He's really out there.

ANGLE ON KURTZ:

seated on a small chest next to his bed. He is reading

from a small book. It is "The Hollow Man" by T.S. Eliot.

KURTZ:

(reading)

"Shape without form, shade without

color, force, gesture without

motion;"

PHOTOGRAPHER:

Do you know what the man's saying?

Do you?

KURTZ:

(reading)

"Those who have crossed direct

eyes..."

PHOTOGRAPHER:

This is dialectics. It's very

simple dialectics. It's one through

nine, no maybes, no supposes, no

fractions. You can't travel in

space. You can't go out into space,

without like, you know, with

fractions. What are you gonna

land on? One quarter? Three-

eighths? What are you gonna do

when you go from here to Venus?

That's dialectic physics, okay?

Dialectic logic is, there's only

love and hate. You either love

somebody, or you hate them.

Kurtz throws a bunch of bananas at the photographer.

KURTZ:

Mutt! You mutt!

PHOTOGRAPHER:

This is the way the f***ing world

lives. Look at this f***ing sh*t

we're in, man! Not with a bang,

Whimper. And with a whimper I'm

f***ing splitting, Jack.

Photographer rises and exits down the corridor leaving

Willard alone. Kurtz looks at him.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. KURTZ QUARTERS - DAY

Willard is at a table containing Kurtz's belongings. He

looks at his uniform, military decorations, photographs of

Kurtz's family, a bible, and other books lying on the table.

WILLARD (V.O.)

On the river, I thought that the

minute I looked at him, I'd know

what to do. But it didn't happen.

I was in there with him for days.

Not under guard. I was free. But

he knew I wasn't going anywhere.

He knew more about what I was going

to do at I did. If the generals

back in Nah Trang could see what I

saw, would they still want me to

kill him? More than ever, probably.

And what would his people back

home want, if they ever learned

just how far from them he'd really

gone. He broke from them, and

then he broke from himself. I'd

never seen a man so broken up and

ripped apart.

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