How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Apocalypse Now.
Quote #4
WILLARD: If that's how Kilgore fought the war, I began to wonder what they really had against Kurtz. It wasn't just insanity and murder; there was enough of that to go around for everyone.
Kilgore is conducting the war in a questionable way, but still respecting the chain of command. Kurtz has gone rogue, which is what really irks the commanders. Kurtz's "evil" isn't so much the severed heads but that he did it without their permission.
Quote #5
CHEF: This Colonel guy? He's wacko, man! He's worse than crazy. He's evil. It's f***in' pagan idolatry. Look around you. S***! He's loco...I ain't afraid of all them f***in' skulls and altars and s***. I used to think if I died in an evil place, then my soul wouldn't be able to make it to Heaven. But now? F***! I mean, I don't care where it goes, as long as it ain't here. So whaddya wanna do? I'll kill the f***.
Chef isn't buying Kurtz's explanations for what he's doing (trying to win the war by any means necessary). In the "bad vs. mad" debate, Chef goes with "mad."
Quote #6
WILLARD: Everybody wanted me to do it, him most of all. I felt like he was up there, waiting for me to take the pain away. He just wanted to go out like a soldier, standing up, not like some poor, wasted, rag-assed renegade. Even the jungle wanted him dead, and that's who he really took his orders from anyway.
Kurtz has become so broken by the evil he's perpetrated that maybe he can't live with himself anymore. But he holds onto a definition of what's right—being a brave soldier who can face the consequences of his actions. Maybe he realizes that, all things considered, his death serves the greater good.