Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now a Translation of...

Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is the 1979 epic Vietnam War film based on the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. However the word ‘based’ as to be called into question as the two differ quite dramatically. The periods in which the two stories are about are completely different, within 70 years of each other, as is the setting and the circumstances. However, through the ideas of savagery and madness character, plot, and the themes which both pieces seem to convey the two stories are very similar and it is clear that Coppola was heavily influenced by Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness is an excellent tale that demonstrates the difference to what we believe to be an ideal within civilisation and the actual†¦show more content†¦Although the two characters are on very similar missions to each other they both come across varying factors that affect their overall voyage. Due to the fact that they are in different time periods and locations, the idea of technology and communication play a vital part in the fundamental differences. This aside, they both reach a similar ending where they discover Kurtz to be an insane and sick being who’s mind has been tainted by his surroundings. Both stories are extremely similar, yet Coppola has included some subtle differences for example, Marlow’s experiences in Heart of Darkness are different to Willard’s and one of the main reasons for this is the lack of technology he has at his disposal. At the beginning of the book Marlow finds out that he has to rebuild his steame r as it has been sunken, his journey is delayed for weeks as he is unable to obtain the rivets he needs. This task would seemingly be a lot easier had he have had access to a phone or a radio, in the context of the two stories this delay might have been the difference between Kurtz’s life and death. Willard, it seems, dealt with other factors that affected his journey due to the fact that technology was able to solve many of the problems that Marlow had to overcome in the novel. For example Willard didn’t have to deal with the problem of a lapse in communication as he had a radio. Another varying factor is that from the beginning of the journey, Willard knew of