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LOG OUT View Document: Heart of the Apocalypse
Heart of the Apocalypse
by Raffaele Nardella
October 26, 2013
[send a comment to Raffaele Nardella | Print View]
by Elena Bastasi, Caterina Cecconi, Valentina Ferrara, Fiora Marafante
http://www.marcopolo.provincia.venezia.it/tommaseo/lezioni/Inglese/AdP_98_99/ConradFrameSet.htm
Differences and parallels between the novel and the film
Apocalypse Now was inspired by "Heart of Darkness" for what concerns the plot, and it also has the same critical task.
While Joseph Conrad was a critic of colonial exploitation in Africa during the 19thC., F.F.Coppola's target is the absurdity of the Vietnam War and war in general. Both colonialism and the Vietnam War are criticized through the same episodes that highlight their absurdity. For example, in the book, the absurdity is underlined when Marlow sees a French war ship that is shelling the jungle in a blind and destructive manner, or in the episode where some mines are blown up to build an inexistent railway.
In the film this absurdity is underlined by a scene where Captain Kilgore bombards a Vietnamese civilian village just to allow his soldiers to surf on the beach.
In the book, as in the film, there are different shifts in space and time. In "Heart of Darkness" this effect is given by the presence of different narrators and settings. The story is narrated in the first person by a character-narrator who is neither introduced nor named, but who is sitting with the other characters on the deck of the "Nellie", a boat. Afterwards Marlow, one of the members of the crew, starts telling his own story and this represents the second narrator. At this point we also have a change of setting: from the river Thames of London, we enter the heart of the Congo.
In "Apocalypse Now" these shifts are much easier to be given thanks to the many techniques available in the cinema industry. The film director uses the technique of cross-fade, visual and auditory overlap. An example of this can be seen at the beginning of the film where Willard lies on his bed staring at the fan while the image of a helicopter and its noise is overlapped to it.
Between the book and the film we can also notice many affinities and contrasts among the characters.
Charlie Marlow of the book corresponds to Captain Benjamin Willard of the film. In common they have the desire of pursuing a mission and they are both thoughtful and great observers.
Their mission is in both cases connected to the character of Kurtz, but while Marlow has to take him back to the Company Station, Willard has to "terminate" him.
Marlow comes to know Kurtz (who maintains the same name in the novel and in the film) through the testimonials of people that come across his path. Willard, instead, comes to know Kurtz by reading a dossier containing many documents about Colonel Kurtz given to him by the American Army.
Kurtz, in both cases, is described as an excellent man with a fabulous career that seems to have gone insane. Kurtz, however, is worshipped as a god by the tribesmen of the place where he withdrew. But there is an important difference. In the book Kurtz dies very soon after Marlow's arrival, putting the reader in the situation of not knowing his real thoughts well. Instead, in "Apocalypse Now", Willard has the possibility of meeting the Colonel twice, listening to his monologues, and so the audience has the chance to get to know Kurtz better.
A secondary character that can be found in "Heart of Darkness" and "Apocalypse Now" is the greatest admirer of Kurtz, described as a Russian man in the novel and as a photographer in the film. This character gives Marlow/Willard an insight into the terrible nature of Kurtz' surrender to the wilderness.
In the end the affinity between Marlow/Willard and Kurtz/Kurtz becomes a symbolic unity. They are the light and dark selves of a single person. Marlow/Willard is what Kurtz/Kurtz might have been and Kurtz/Kurtz is what Marlow/Willard might have become.
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