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Apocalypse Now-Heart of Darkness

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Apocalypse Now-Heart of Darkness Apocalypse Now was set in Vietnam 1968. At this time the Vietnam War was controversial. The American antiwar movement was gaining power. John Milius wrote the original screenplay based on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness but updated it to take place during the Vietnam War. During both times there was a great undertaking of territory. The Congo was being acquired by European presence in Heart of Darkness. As Conrad’s experience took him into the Congo; he observed firsthand knowledge of the atrocities of European imperialism. He witnessed the enslavement of a society and the rich wealth of the ivory trade. In Apocalypse Now it was the American presence for South Vietnams independence that was at stake. America became involved in the conflict between North and South Vietnam because its policy makers feared the spread of communism. American young men were sent by the thousands every month to Vietnam. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives. The main theme of both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now are based on a man that is known as a great military leader, and has a dossier full of accomplishments. Kurtz, which has been overtaken with darkness. His mind is not that of someone who is thinking straight. Kurtz in Heart of Darkness turns out to be emaciated and weak when Marlow first gets to see him and Kurtz in Apocalypse Now a strong figure with a sinister presence when encountered by Willard. In Apocalypse Now Kurtz is in Cambodia with the Montagnards, who treat him like a God. It is said that Kurtz methods have become “unsound”, and that he needs to be terminated. Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness both illustrate the futility of war and war’s damaging psychological effects on the human mind. Marlow and Willard, two men who each narrate the book or movie are overtaken by their interest in Kurtz and what he has encountered while in the jungles of Cambodia and the Congo as to the reason he has become so unstable. Marlow who witnesses the atrocities of European imperialism through slavery and torture. Willard who on the other hand participates in the atrocities himself, as they are part of the war that he is fighting. In studying about Kurtz they find out a lot about themselves. As they both have witnessed the mayhems of war they both have gained self-knowledge needed to defeat the darkness that was with in them. My thoughts are that the movie makes the book clearer. In seeing Willard and the way he immerses himself in reading about Kurtz and the evil that is happening all around him. As he meets with Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore and sees his somewhat insanity as he flies into battle blaring Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”. He sees the totality of the effects of war on these persons of power. His quote, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” justifies the quality of Kilgore’s far reaching effect that the war has had on his mentality. With Kurtz, his quote, “The horror, the horror” is uttered as his last words, signifying the final acceptance of the evils he participated in during the war. He dies broken and tormented. We are confronted daily with issues that challenge our inner darkness, good versus evil. Moral values instilled in us by our parents and caregivers. How we react to them in a certain environment is the true test. Conrad witnessed the world changing. He saw how people reacted to something new. Money meant power and with power came change. Whatever beliefs that those in control had would either be resisted causing a war or accepted leading to imperialism, any way there was going to be a change. This has happened throughout time and will continue until the end of the earth.

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