Compare and Contrast Heart of Darkness/apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is the story of Captain Willard’s journey up the Nung River in Cambodia to kill a general, Kurtz, who has lost control of himself. It is set in the Vietnam War and is a very gritty and affecting film. Imagine my surprise when I learned that it was sort of based on Joseph Conrad’s famous novella, Heart of Darkness. Conrad’s book, the tale of the sailor Marlowe’s African adventure, is a study on the evils of colonialism. The two stories at first glance do not seem very similar, but after examining both, it is quite shocking the degree of similarity between the two. Many people have been able to draw comparisons to Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now, but the two are by no means identical; the difference is in the details. As Linda Costanzo Cahir states in her article, “Narratological Parallels in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now,” “To tell a story differently is to tell a different story,” and I agree. Both deal with similar overall themes and messages, parallel characters, and some similar dialogue; yet each use different mediums and specifics to create their effects on the reader/viewer. In examination of the scene in which Marlowe/Willard and co. are attacked by the natives on their way up their respective rivers, the different ways each craft is manipulated to create similar effects is exposed.

Conrad only has the facets of the English language to transport us to the same height of apprehension that Apocalypse Now does visually. In the scene of the first attack of the natives, there are many similarities in book and movie. In regards to the overall plot, the same elements are key in both works. The steamboat had previously emerged from a thick fog in which disturbing cries had been heard through, and are suspecting an attack, which inevitably happens. In the attack, the helmsman is killed. Conrad uses foreshadowing during the fog by having the Manager ask “Will they attack…?” and alluding to the “many dangers” that seemed to protect Kurtz in deep jungle. We know the attack is coming, but the pilgrims lack of organized action and their fright cause a sense of apprehension for the reader in the impending danger. Conrad also sets a fast pace to this section by his syntax. This section is full of sentences with lots of commas; they have a build to them and set a rhythm to the work. “Sticks, little sticks, were flying about, thick; …whizzing before my nose, dropping below me, striking behind me…” The reader feels as if he is right in the moment as the “twigs shook, swayed, and rustled, the arrows flew. The words seem to be just tumbling out of Marlowe’s mind, and this sentence structure helps us feel the urgency and quickness of this scene. In this scene, there is even a similarity of intent of the main characters, Marlowe and Willard. Conrad, in his specific detail in the passage, shows that Marlowe was not happy with the way the situation was being handled. Both Marlowe and Willard realized that the arrows couldn’t really do much harm, since they “looked as if they wouldn’t kill a cat.” They were both trying to get their men to stop their reflexive shooting into the brush since it wasn’t helping any; it even got Marlowe “in a fury.”

Coppola, in his film, manages to create that same apprehension and pace of the scene, but does it in a different way. Coppola use of a thick, almost impenetrable fog right up until almost the moment of attack, amplifies the tension of the scene. WE visually see all the soldiers straining to see what the fog holds secret. Chef nervously asks “Why don’t they attack?” just as the pilgrims do in Heart of Darkness. The sound is very important to this scene. Coppola uses a foreboding instrumental music that slowly builds as the scene gets more intense. This helps set the mood of the scene. Another sound that is very important is the cries we hear just before the attack. While Marlowe has to explain them, the look on Willard’s face as he hears them, along with the audience, for the first time, is enough to frighten us. They sound unearthly and unnatural, just creepy, really. The effect of these sounds is the reason everyone on the boat gets into a frenzy, and makes them all quick to shoot once the arrows start flying, like the pilgrims. The deluge of little arrows looks the same on the screen as it is described in the book. Coppola uses a lot of medium shots