Kurtz (Marlon Brando)’s Timeline and Summary
[Events occurring before the movie begins are in parentheses.]
- (Col. Kurtz is considered an excellent officer, a rising star in the U.S. Army, and a humanitarian.
- He gets promoted after receiving media attention for a daring and successful attack that he launched without official approval.
- Finally, he leads a private army of Vietnamese tribal people, Montagnards, over the border into Cambodia. He also kills two South Vietnamese double agents without government permission.
- Somewhere along the line he's gone rogue, carrying out brutal, sometimes crazy operations without army approval.
- The army brass thinks he's gone completely insane.)
- When Captain Willard encounters Kurtz, he finds that Kurtz has been cutting off heads and crucifying people.
- He's set up a compound in an abandoned temple and the Montagnards think of him as a god.
- Kurtz talks with Willard about his philosophy of total war, and then has Willard imprisoned.
- He has Chef's head cut off as Chef attempts to call in an airstrike. He throws the severed head on Willard's lap.
- He releases Willard from captivity and tries to explain the reasons behind his brutal actions, which he knows can be easily misconstrued. Well, yeah.
- He's says he's been transformed by an episode where Viet Cong cut off all the arms of children who'd just been inoculated against polio.
- This seems to have taught Kurtz that total brutality is necessary to win the war. So he's not insane, he's just seen the terrible truth.
- He tells Willard to tell his (Kurtz's) son about everything he did—the whole, awful truth. He can't stand lies.
- Finally, Kurtz effectively lets Willard assassinate him.
- Willard hacks Kurt to death as the Montagnards do the same to a water buffalo.
- Kurtz dies reciting Joseph Conrad: "The horror...the horror."