Blog 4

The Next Heart of Darkness

Francis Ford Coppolia’s 1979 movie Apocalypse Now Redux (2001) was created as the next Heart of Darkness. Throughout the movie, connections can be made to the novella written by Joseph Conrad. In the movie, Willard is exposed to the same realities that Marlow had experienced during his time in Africa. Both characters watch as their ships got attacked by natives but, each experienced a different scene when one of their workers died.
Traveling up a dangerous river both Willard and Marlow had an unexpected visit from the natives of the country. In the book, Conrad writes that “the river, the shore, the woods were very quiet” when suddenly arrows starting shooting from the shore (Conrad 44). This is similar to the movie when the North Vietnamese started shooting at the American boat. Both were startled by the onslaught of arrows that were being shot at them. Also, the movie has a spear hit the captain in the stomach just like the helmsman, in Conrad’s story, who had “the shaft of a spear” go through his body (Conrad 46). Once the arrows started flying, the captain started to act erratically. Soon afterwards the spear went through his body. Coppolia filmed this aspect of the scene similar to Conrad’s scene because Marlow’s helmsman was acting erratically shortly before his own death. Both started to fear what was happening around them, as they traveled further into the unknown. Coppolia mimicked Conrad in this aspect to illustrate the madness people go through during a life or death situation. The captain lost any sense of his former civilization seconds before his death. Both shipmen died similar deaths yet, Coppolia still differed from Conrad on a couple of small details.
While the overall ambush scene was similar there were a few details that contrasted between the book and the movie. The fallen helmsman’s “eyes shone with an amazing [luster],” he laid quietly looking at Marlow speaking nothing or moving at all (Conrad 46). The scene is opposite to how the captain on Willard’s boat acted. The captain tried to kill Willard by pushing his head through the spear seconds before he succumbed to his wounds. In Marlow’s case there was a sense of camaraderie between the two helmsmen. While in Willard’s case, the captain showed hatred and disdain towards Willard and the war effort. Coppolia altered from the book on this facet because he needed to show why soldiers were losing interest in the war. The captain was unable to stay civilized any longer in the Southeast Asia jungle as he turned savage. Willard understood this once the captain started pulling Willard’s head towards the end of the spear. On the other hand, Marlow grew closer to the dead African as he started to recognize the change in behavior people have in an unknown land. It was a small difference between the two scenes that still generated the same conclusion.
Both Marlow and Willard watched as the darkness took over someone near them. They both saw the effects of a man losing his morals. Even though the details were different, the overall explanation was the same. In a place where survival rules over morals, everyone loses their civilization.

Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Paul B. Armstrong. W.W. Norton: New York, 2005.