both Tim O'Briens seem to think that surrealism is a hard and exact truth, so why can't we say that Apocolypse Now is a kind of truth? Just because its the truth as it seems to a particular person, can we say it is not real, ....real and true to them?! Can we not say that reality and truth is relative????

There is no such thing as "Truth," despite what the Main Building Tower tells us. To say that "surrealism" is a hard and exact truth is playing with language, not much more. The second part of what you wrote is much more sensible: reality and truth are relative, and so much depends on perspective. If there existed no one to perceive it, would the world still exist? All we have are our own perceptions, which are muddled and particular to our own experiences and expectations. That's why for O'Brien, it's essential that we explore the power of the imagination and what it can tell us about ourselves; which, according to him, is often much more than the "hard exact truth" can. Whatever that is.

Johny and Bob sure know how to write and sing a song, now don't they?