Heart of Darkness Vs. Apocalypse Now

To win the top award at the Cannes Film Festival and be nominated for eight awards at the Academy Awards is an outstanding feat. Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now did not only that, but won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. Coppola can not take all the credit for this enlightening movie. The film was loosely based off of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Though Conrad was not credited in Apocalypse Now, his novella has a great impact on Coppola's cinematic masterpiece.

Captain Benjamin Willard of Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness's Marlow are very much alike. Both are sent on a mission to find Kurtz, a well respected man. In the novella, Kurtz is an exceptional ivory trader and not only a musician, but a painter as well. Coppola's Kurtz is also revered for his military achievements. The two men are at the top of their games, appreciated by many, but both follow a dark, twisting path.

Each Kurtz abandons his duties and becomes mentally unstable. The ivory trading Kurtz travels deep into the Congo and starts a new civilization with African natives. He begins a civilized man and works to help the savages become the same, but as he drifts deeper into the jungle, Africa's darkness changes him. Kurtz leads the natives but becomes as savaged as the others.

Colonel Walter E. Kurtz portrayed the same way in Apocalypse Now. He is a powerful man with an impressive military history. Kurtz is one of the top commanders in the Vietnam War. As he explores deeper into the jungles of Vietnam, he too becomes a savage.

Conrad's Kurtz is sent for because he is weak. Kurtz's demise is shown by is dementia and frailty. Colonel Kurtz looses his sanity as well, but gains weight instead. He looses touch with the outside world and goes AWOL from the United States Military. Both men are two deep into their world to make it back. They are at the point of no return.

Marlow and Willard spend vast amounts of time researching Kurtz. Marlow gains knowledge by spending his time eavesdropping on the ivory company. Willard is giving government files on Kurtz by the military and spends hours studying his past and present. As both men move deeper into the jungle, each is drawn deeper in to Kurtz's world.

The Nung River in Apocalypse Now parallels the Congo River in Heart of Darkness. Both rivers are trails to corruption. The further down a river, the darker the soul becomes. Each Kurtz sails the snake of evil and both Marlow and Willard follow them.

In the beginning, everyone is a caterpillar. As the steamer sails the river, a cacoon of corruption is spun. At the end of the river, the cacoon is finished and there is complete darkness. This is the end for many like Kurtz. For those that are lucky such as Marlow and Willard, there is hope. Both men at last see Kurtz and what he has become. Over the course of the journey, each man has witnessed the dark side of man and realize their faults. Before they are fully corrupted, they turn to leave the darkness and choose to not become what Kurtz has. This is when the caterpillar that is man can become a butterfly, a civilized beauty.

Africa and Southeast Asia are clearly not the same when one looks at a globe. Vietnam is in a completely different continent than Africa's Congo. The two, however, both have jungles which lead travellers into a heavy darkness. Acompanying the darkness is fog. In Conrad's novella, he eloquently describes morose setting of Africa. Coppola expresses the same aesthetic scenory through