Alexander Tonico
Apocalypse Now is director Francis Ford Coppola's film based on Heart of Darkness but set in the jungles of Vietnam. While some critics found the film mostly muddled, most agreed that it was a powerful and important examination not only of America's military involvement in Vietnam, but like Conrad's novel, a disturbing treatment of the darkness potentially inherent in all human hearts. "Apocalypse" means the end of the world, as when the earth is destroyed by fire in the Bible. As the film's title suggests, Coppola explores the ways in which the metaphorical "darkness" of Vietnam causes an apocalypse in the hearts of those sent there to fight.
Coppola retained the basic structure of Conrad's novel for his film. As Heart of …show more content…
An important difference between these characters, however, is that Willard begins the film as a man already accustomed to the "horror" around him. The opening shots of the film reveal Willard in a Saigon hotel; on his nightstand is a gun (he has already considered suicide) and he explains, in a voice-over, that he was unable to adjust to life in the United States after his first tour of duty. Coppola then presents the viewer with a montage of Willard screaming, crying, and smashing a mirror to show how desperately Willard needs a mission to give his life some purpose. Another difference is that Marlow wanted to explore "the blank places" on a map to satisfy his thirst for adventure, but Willard needs a mission so that he doesn't become (as he fears) …show more content…
Willard is taken prisoner and kept in a cage; on a rainy night, Willard is awakened by Kurtz, who drops the head of one of Willard's crew in his lap, as if to say, "This is what I am capable of doing on a whim." After this show of force, however, Kurtz begins nursing Willard back to health, and Coppola eventually makes clear the idea that Kurtz knows Willard's mission and — more importantly — wants him to carry it out. "If I was still alive it was only because he wanted it that way," Willard remarks. Like Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, Col. Kurtz cannot sustain his life of exhausting emptiness. Both Kurtzes succumb to the temptation of "forgotten and brutal instincts" — and both find that their lives become "hollow" as a result. As he approaches Col. Kurtz with a machete, Willard's voice-over explains, "Everyone wanted me to do it," including the jungle, "Which is who he really took his orders from." Col. Kurtz wants to die, because after learning what he did about himself, he needs (as Willard explains), "Someone to take the pain away." When Willard kills him, Col. Kurtz offers little resistance; Coppola intersperses the scene of Col. Kurtz's murder with the sacrifice of a bull to suggest that Col. Kurtz is "sacrificed" for the sins of the Army. Eventually, he speaks the same final words as his counterpart with the same ambiguous
Apocalypse Now is director Francis Ford Coppola's film based on Heart of Darkness but set in the jungles of Vietnam. While some critics found the film mostly muddled, most agreed that it was a powerful and important examination not only of America's military involvement in Vietnam, but like Conrad's novel, a disturbing treatment of the darkness potentially inherent in all human hearts. "Apocalypse" means the end of the world, as when the earth is destroyed by fire in the Bible. As the film's title suggests, Coppola explores the ways in which the metaphorical "darkness" of Vietnam causes an apocalypse in the hearts of those sent there to fight.
Coppola retained the basic structure of Conrad's novel for his film. As Heart of …show more content…
An important difference between these characters, however, is that Willard begins the film as a man already accustomed to the "horror" around him. The opening shots of the film reveal Willard in a Saigon hotel; on his nightstand is a gun (he has already considered suicide) and he explains, in a voice-over, that he was unable to adjust to life in the United States after his first tour of duty. Coppola then presents the viewer with a montage of Willard screaming, crying, and smashing a mirror to show how desperately Willard needs a mission to give his life some purpose. Another difference is that Marlow wanted to explore "the blank places" on a map to satisfy his thirst for adventure, but Willard needs a mission so that he doesn't become (as he fears) …show more content…
Willard is taken prisoner and kept in a cage; on a rainy night, Willard is awakened by Kurtz, who drops the head of one of Willard's crew in his lap, as if to say, "This is what I am capable of doing on a whim." After this show of force, however, Kurtz begins nursing Willard back to health, and Coppola eventually makes clear the idea that Kurtz knows Willard's mission and — more importantly — wants him to carry it out. "If I was still alive it was only because he wanted it that way," Willard remarks. Like Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, Col. Kurtz cannot sustain his life of exhausting emptiness. Both Kurtzes succumb to the temptation of "forgotten and brutal instincts" — and both find that their lives become "hollow" as a result. As he approaches Col. Kurtz with a machete, Willard's voice-over explains, "Everyone wanted me to do it," including the jungle, "Which is who he really took his orders from." Col. Kurtz wants to die, because after learning what he did about himself, he needs (as Willard explains), "Someone to take the pain away." When Willard kills him, Col. Kurtz offers little resistance; Coppola intersperses the scene of Col. Kurtz's murder with the sacrifice of a bull to suggest that Col. Kurtz is "sacrificed" for the sins of the Army. Eventually, he speaks the same final words as his counterpart with the same ambiguous