Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by user510 (R) on September 27, 2014 at 17:16:11

Heart of Darkness vs. Apocalypse Now!

I've often read, here and there, that Francis Ford Coppola's movie Apocalypse Now was based upon a short novel by Joseph Conrad; Heart of Darkness.

In the mood to read more I found a free text of the novel* at Project Gutenberg, an online library of literature that has been donated to the cause by the copyright holders, or literary works that have fallen into the common domain. Finding this, and several other stories by Conrad, I printed the plain text out onto letter-sized paper using my small laser printer in duplex mode. If one has a Kindle, or similar, there is a text version for that format, plus other formats. (see link below)

* It is a novella, actually. Too long to be a short story, too short to be a novel.

After reading this short novel, which, by the way, I found enjoyable, I viewed the movie "Apocalypse Now Redux" on my Fios connection using the 'on demand' feature. (No extra cost as I already subscribed to the broadcaster that hosts this movie. Epix)

In comparison between the novel and the movie I noticed that the movie does hit major plot points and also quotes some of the more important comments made by key characters from the novel. And it does this all the way through. However the movie improvises on themes from the novel by translating them into the context of the American VietNam war. Or was that a police action..;-] And the movie takes license with certain actions, and the characters.

Novel summary: Marlow, a sailor looking for work, hires on with a Belgian Trading company to pilot a river boat up the Congo River for them. The company's business in the area (Belgian Congo, circa late 1800's) is the Ivory Trade. (Elephant tusks and Rhinoceros horns) Once at the outer station Marlow's appointed responsibility is to repair the wrecked steam-powered river boat "Nellie" and pilot the boat, with crew of company employees, and a company manager, up river into the interior of Africa to meet a company agent named Kurtz at the inner-most company trading post.
As the story builds in its early parts Marlow learns that Kurtz is not an ordinary agent. Rumors and accounts from those who have had contact with him suggest that there are some extraordinary talents and actions associated with the man. Not all of it ethical. To some, he has become legend. To the local natives Kurtz has become something more.

Movie summary: Army Capt. Willard is sent to carry out a mission to find the mysterious Green Beret Colonel, Walter Kurtz. By this time Kurtz has moved his operation and command out of Viet Nam and into Cambodia while conducting missions against the Viet Cong and the NVA. The US Army has been receiving reports on Kurtz's actions that lead them to believe he has gone completely insane. That he has lost his mental balance between what is ethical war conduct and what is the conduct of a madman. Not to mention that he was operating in Cambodia which was not officially at war.

Willard's assignment is to travel up river beyond the Do Lung Bridge into Cambodia where Col. Kurtz has his base of operations and to "eliminate his command". To get there a PBR and crew have been assigned to be his transport. (PBR = Patrol Boat River) “Eliminate his command” was the wording that his commander used. To Willard it meant --Assassinate Kurtz--.

Themes Novel: The Novella describes conditions found at the outer station and along the journey up river to the inner station as absurdly inadequate to the task and with scenes of harsh treatment dealt out to native workers. It is a testament to the torture, cruelty and near slavery imposed upon the African peoples employed by Imperialist European concerns. And these treatments are experienced by any native persons who's path unfortunately happens to be crossed. Marlow describes in his observations the hypocrisy of Imperialist flowery rhetoric versus the brutal reality of such ideals. The reader is left to view the absurdity within that contrast.

Kurtz has gone mad. From the beginning Marlow is told this. Yet as Marlow, and the reader, come to learn more it becomes less easy to define madness within the context of what might be viewed as an inherent insanity within company policy versus the harsh realities of the environment through which they travel.

Numerous scenes within the novel describe a surreal sense of surroundings to Marlow. The way the jungle seems to swallow up those who venture into it. As if they are seen to dissolve into it, rather than by ordinary travel. There is absurdity in the way crew members of the Nellie react to contact with the natives on the shore of the Congo River. The Nellie crew is easily spooked and undisciplined in their reactions to external stimulus. There is moral confusion when the choice between what is good and what is evil becomes difficult and not at all obvious to navigate. When up the river, choices seem to be between lesser evils.

Themes Movie: The movie chooses to take the contextual environment out of the Imperialistic Belgian Congo of the late 19th century and into the Viet Nam War circa 1968. Instead of the Congo River our journey is up the Nung River into the forbidden zone; Cambodia. But there are still primitive Cambodian natives that can behave similarly to those natives in Conrads novel. However there is no overt evidence of racial bias by whites against less sophisticated tribal peoples as it is in the novel. And the Imperialistic European traders are replaced by the U.S. Army.

Surreal Absurdities. The movie describes a strong sense of surreal absurdity in several scenes. One such scene is where Air Cavalry Lt. Col. Kilgore (played by Robt. Duvall) orders one crew member of the PBR to surf the wake on the Nung river amidst a Napalm attack on nearby Viet Cong. The crew member, by the name of Lance Johnson, a well known American surfer, is befriended by Kilgore, also an avid surfer. And it is through this connection that Kilgore agrees to transport (carry boat by helicopter) the PBR across a difficult-to-navigate part of the River. However the PBR crew out-maneuvers Kilgore after being transported by escaping to their boat and taking off up river. Before Lance needs to surf the river.

The crew of the PBR are surreal and absurd by themselves. Not at all as we would expect a real PBR crew to be. They are undisciplined, irresponsible to their assigned duties and frequently taking mind altering drugs. Lance (played by Sam Bottoms) drops acid. Chef smokes a joint. They are easily caught off-guard by several attacks to the boat from invisible parties ashore. And through their unforgivable incompetence to their primary mission they slaughter an innocent family traveling down river on a Sanpan. Movie viewers learn that the boat carries only agricultural product and one pet puppy. However Willard finishes off the wounded but still surviving Sanpan woman with a pistol shot in order to prevent any further delay of his mission.

Darkness: It is in the book title; "Heart of Darkness". In the dark it is not possible to see one another. Especially in the last part of the 19th century when night vision optics were not available. Electricity, just barely. So perhaps the title suggests when in the very heart of darkness, such as up the Congo River where the only light at night is fire.

Darkness in the book and movie can also mean dense fog. Up river it becomes nearly impossible to see from the river boat in the fog who it is that is shooting small arrows at you and who it is that might otherwise have been a friend. Or is it that darkness is that state of mind when it becomes less clear which choice is ethical and which choice represents evil. Or perhaps the darkness is that time where one is so far up river and separated from all societal surroundings and the rules of his society, then Marlow becomes faced with a choice between lesser evils. Or perhaps it is that state where it becomes impossible to know what hazard may lie beyond the next bend in the river. Aboard the Nellie they steamed up river into the heart of darkness.

In the movie 'darkness' is seen within the deeds and thinking of Col. Kurtz. Who, as we all know has gone around the bend figuratively. He's taken one step beyond that edge where the choices between lesser evils are to be made by him and him alone. And this is quite evident when the Willard and the two surviving PBR crew land ashore at Kurtz's “outpost”, which appears to be the ruins of an ancient temple. Corpses, hanging by the neck, wave in the breeze. Decapitated heads littered about the ruins. Hanging cages holding prisoners.

General thoughts about the movie:
I think the flaw is fundamental by the film maker to choose the Vietnam war theater to adapt this story into. He chooses to translate the absurdities of the Belgian Imperialists approach within Conrads novella into the absurdities of the Vietnam war in a way that defies belief. Example: There was no air cavalry commander that would order subordinates to go out into the river and surf the wake amidst an all out attack on Viet-Cong forces. Absurd, yes. The scene is absurdly humorous, but the movie wasn't made as a comedy. Playing it straight crosses the line between absurdity and into ridiculousness. And there Robert Duvall is, as Lt. Colonel Kilgore, making that memorable statement; "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning. It smells like......like victory". Right there's a little madness. But unbelievable.

Absurdity among the crew of the PBR, ( which takes the place of the Nellie in Conrad's story). Who could believe that PBR crews were that undisciplined or that incompetent at their assigned tasks. The absurdities in the movie are simply too absurd to be believed.

The movie gets to that part where it becomes absurd for an organization (US Army) that, by its own wartime deeds, has displayed a kind of madness. And then it chooses to condemn one of its commanders out in the field of unethical wartime conduct. And they call him insane. Meanwhile Col. Kurtz seems to think he's seen through all of the madness; having had to make choices beyond the scope of his societal and professional background.

Like the movie, the novella isn't perfect. There are two narrators within the story. One is Marlow who narrates 1st person the events as he experienced them. The other narrator is one of a group who relates the story to us as he and the group listen to Marlow tell it. There are moments when it becomes unclear who the narrator is. But the story itself was involving and easy to follow and accept.

I enjoyed much of Conrads prose. He displays a talent for rich descriptions that can place the reader at the scene. I winced at some of the racial prejudices within it. On the one hand you can say that the story is making a point of revealing the prejudices and bigotry of white European Imperialists against less sophisticated tribal peoples. But it might also be considered that some of those prejudices on display were Conrads own.

• Heart of Darkness at Project Gutenberg   (Open in New Window)

Edits: 09/28/14   09/28/14   09/28/14