ORIGINAL: kev_uk
ORIGINAL: Von Rom
ORIGINAL: kev_uk
Yeah I love Apocalypse Now, the reasons you point out are some of them. I like the analogy with the boat as well, never thought of it that way before.
The thing which strikes me is the comparison between Kurtz and Willard; both total fuck ups from their own experiances of war, more specifically the Vietnam War. Kurtz had lost it totally...someone who really had good prospects/career in the Military, but..he flipped.
The films atmosphere is stunning as well...it really is classic.
I have always intended to read Condrads 'heart of Darkness', will get around to it someday.
There is a lot in AN. Coppola shows that movie-going can also be great art.
You'll notice that both main characters: Kurtz and Willard, are struggling with inner turmoil. Kurtz loses the battle. But Willard, by remaining on the boat (and clinging to a moral life-raft), emerges having "conquered" his inner demons.
In a way, the meeting between Willard and Kurtz could actually be the "Good" Willard confronting the "Bad" Willard (as played by Kurtz), and the struggle that ensues determines whether Willard will emerge "sane". The journey by boat, being the journey that Willard must undertake to look deep inside himself, and confront the conflicting turmoil bubbling inside him. It is an inner journey and a "fight" that Willard must win in order to be able to re-enter society again. . .
Here is a free downloadable copy of "Heart of Darkness" made possible through the Gutenberg Project:
http://www.gutenberg.lib.md.us/index/by ... xx671.html
I was also confused with the brief glimpse of the books in Kurtzs' quarters...One was 'The Golden Bough', and early 20thC text about Magic and Spiritualism IIRC, and TS Eliots 'The Hollow men', which he is reading from. Any interpretations on them?
I think I will have to go and watch it again...I have both versions on DVD, the theatrical one and Redux, which I have only seen once.
Cheers for the link to HoD. Conrad also wrote Nostromo as well, which is how the Space Freighter in Alien got its name, again IIRC.
Cheers
You have a good eye for catching the titles of those books.
I noticed one of characters on the boat was reading Steppenwolf by Hesse.
I have not heard about some of those books, but like most things in this movie, they are probably there for a reason.
It could be argued that Willard and Kurtz are BOTH THE SAME PERSON. Just as all people have good and bad inside them, so too does Willard (Kurtz is his bad side). The Redux version is more explicit about this in the movie, especially when the French woman at the plantation tells Willard that he is "both a killer and a lover."
At the beginning of the movie Willard is in crisis psychologically. He is loosing a grip on reality.
So his intellectual side (played by military HQ) gives him an assignment to confront and slay the evil side of his mind (played by Kurtz).
The boat itself, could represent society's morals and values. One of the characters states: "Don't get off the boat". Why? Because getting off the boat, as Kurtz did, means you are operating outside of society's established morality.
Even the crew on the boat all represent different aspects of Willard. You'll notice that the Captain of boat (who is steering it) is the clearest thinker, and that he NEVER gets off the boat (and so remains sane). Bad things start to happen when the Captain lets others steer the boat, or when others get off the boat. . .
So the journey by boat is Willard's journey to battle Kurtz, and so confront his inner demons and to slay them.
You'll notice that the sky gets darker and that strange things begin to happen the further the boat travels. That is because Willard is journeying deeper into his own subconscious mind, in his attempt to confront his evil side (played by Kurtz).
At the last American Outpost, Willard asks various soldiers "Who's in command here?" The answer? "Aren't YOU (Willard) in command?" Yes, Willard MUST remain in control (command) of his own mind.
All the things the crew on the boat encounter along the way (Duvall's character, French plantation, Playboy Bunnies, etc) all show the often conflicting emotions, actions, feelings, etc that each person has inside them.
So, in a single day the same person could be kind, angry, sad, hopeful, cultured, lustful, crass, evil, good, caring, cold, etc. . .
The trick is to NEVER let them overwhelm or control us. In other words we must always be in control of ourselves and our emotions.
It is interesting that Kurtz's first two initials are:
W.E. Kurtz.
Notice the "W.E." meaning "we". Yes, all of us are Kurtz and all of us are Willard. The good and the bad. There is a conflict between the good and bad in all of us.
Willard's journey and his task (as it is for all of us) is to confront, control, and to win over the evil side inside himself (played by Kurtz).
