Brexit like 'scene out of Apocalypse Now', French car industry expert says

'Martin Sheen is walking in a trench and he asks another soldier, "hey soldier, do you know who’s in charge here?" and he replies, "ain’t you?"'

Apocalypse Now is a dive into the dark depths of human insanity which famously took years longer to make than intended (United Artists)

Brexit is reminiscent of the brutal Vietnam War film, Apocalypse Now, according to a leading figure in the French car industry.

“It reminds me of Apocalypse Now when Martin Sheen is walking in a trench and he asks another soldier, ‘hey soldier, do you know who’s in charge here?’ and he replies, ‘ain’t you?’”, said Francois Roudier, director of communications for the CCFA, the French car industry lobby group.

“For us in the industry its a real problem,” Mr Roudier told the BBC’s Today Programme on Wednesday.

Not knowing what’s going on with regards to Brexit could be “a disaster” that may lead to job losses on both sides of the Channel, he warned.

The comparison with Francis Ford Coppola’s three-hour war epic comes just a day after Brexit Secretary David Davis drew his own movie parallels.

Mr Davis attempted to reassure European business leaders concerned about Brexit by telling them that Britain would not be “plunged into a Mad Max-style world borrowed from dystopian fiction”.

Apocalypse Now is a dive into the dark depths of human insanity and the horrors of conflict which famously took years longer to make than intended. Production was beset by a host of serious problems, including infighting amongst the cast and a mutiny by the crew.

The disturbing tale follows army officer Martin Sheen, sent from the relative civilisation of Saigon into the Cambodian jungle to assassinate the power-crazed Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, who has lost his mind and attempted to set up in his own kingdom.

At one point during filming, Mr Coppola reportedly screamed at Dennis Hopper, one of the film’s stars, who was heavily intoxicated and couldn’t remember his lines.

Mr Hopper is said to have turned to his director and reminded him that most of the dialogue and the scenes themselves were being made up as they went along because Mr Coppola had torn up the script.