Where do you think Willard went? I doubt he was interested in returning to the Army or to the US. Did he just seclude himself in the jungle like Kurtz? What about Lance? Also, Was the Kurtz compound victim to an airstrike after Willard left? It seems to be left a bit open for interpretation at the end, although I would wager that it survived. These two questions have stayed with me since watching the film again a fews nights ago (The full disclosure blu ray is excellent btw). I'm interested in what you guys think.
I hate to be a spoilsport and attempt to douse a discussion, but I think this is a case of the uncertainty being more interesting than any possible answer, much like where Rick and Renault head off to at the end of Casablanca. To answer your question, though... he goes home to his small town in a rural state. Repairs tractors. Is a bit of a loner.
^ Yeah, I think ambiguity was the intent. The version of the movie I "grew up with" ended with the Kurtz compound destroyed in many slow-motion explosions. I always assumed that was Willard's airstrike, but apparently that was not Coppola's intention; he meant it as something more abstract and cut that ending from further releases. I think Lance had lost his mind, I don't think he had much of a future. For Willard, I think his faith in everything had been shattered; whether he stayed in the army, went home or whatever, he had a long way to go to feel like he "fit" in the world. I think the ambiguous ending for him is good in that way. FWIW, Marlow went home and spared Kurtz's fiancee the gory details, but he also gave a reporter the full story. Justin
I've often speculated that the first few minutes of the film--up to and including the "Saigon...." sequence--is actually set after the main events of the film. I thought this after noticing the stone head in the sequence of images set to Jim Morrison. It's the same head we see in the very last scene...as Willard and Lance sail away. Anyway--in the opening sequence, Willard is completely drained, disenchanted, and very cynical. The events in the movie show him groing increasingly...drained, disenchanted, and cynical. And if you listen carefully to Willard's narration--during the opening sequence, it's in the present tense. For the rest of the film, it's in past tense. The "thinking back" begins, in my interperetation, with Willard doing the mok'bara (as it were) in his room (culminating in his injuring his hand--which the two soldiers take note of when they go to him, to take him to his briefing). Everything before that is set after the film's storyline. Just my $0.02.