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Comparison the Novel, Heart of Darkness, with its film version, Apocalypse Now

The director of the Apocalypse Now, Coppola, took some basic structures from the

book for the film; but still there are both similarities and differences between Heart of

Darkness and Apocalypse now. Firstly, the setting is different from each other. Even if the

film is based on the book, Heart of Darkness, it is understood that it is set in the jungles of

Vietnam during the Vietnam war although the movie does not give an exact date for when

those events are happening, in contrast to the book, which follows Marlow’s journey up to

Congo River in Africa through different stations that are belong to Company, The decriptions

of both Vietnam and Africa look same in both book and the movie. Those places are

represented as one of the dark places on earth, and the people live there are seen as primitive

and savage stages of human develeopment which need to be “enlightened”. In the movie,

there are lots of scenes that make us truly understand both the conditions of natives that are

seen as a savages in a war context and the approaches towards them. Both in the book and its

film version, we can see both the problems and the consequences of racism, which is indeed

intertwined with colonialist acts, towards the native people throughout the scenes and parts

that include fighting between natives and non-natives. Apart from that, Marlow becomes

Willard in Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, and he is a soldier there, while Marlow is a seaman in

the book. There are some differences between those characters. Firstly, as soon as the movie

starts, it is immediately understood that he is already accustomed to the horror, and he can

predict to some extent what he is waiting for him when he is charged him to kill Kurtz. While

Willard has a specific purpose for his journey to Vietnam, which is to kill Kurt, the purpose of

Marlow is not specifically clarified in the beginning of the novel. He just has his own

purposes that are shaped by his desire to embark on an adventure that has been continued

since his childhood. For example, Marlow narrates his remembrance that he came across a
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map of Africa in a shop window, which makes up his childhood fantasies on discovering of

those blank spaces. However, in contrast to the motivation of Marlow, the motivation of

Willard for the adventure is that he thinks that he needs a mission so that he does not become

weaker to the natives. As an example for their similarities is that both become wiser as a

result of their painful journeys, and the both characters are the ones who tell their stories with

some differences. For example, Marlow tells those events on the pleasure ship, Nellie, and we

hear voice of Willard throughout the movie. Apart from those differences, we think that the

most distinct similarities between the book and its film version is the issue of hypocrisy. For

example in the film, the character, Clean, kills the Vietnamese crucially, and after he realizes

that one of Vietnamese is not still dead, and she agonizes, he tells the other soldiers that the

woman can be taken to the hospital. The reason why he does such a thing is nothing but

hypocrisy because he is the one who kills all of them without showing any mercy in the first

place, and what he does actually here is pretending the role of merciful soldier,and we have

seen so many examples that look like this scene while watching the movie that implies the

hypocrisy of them. In the book, the manager seems to concerned about Kurtz’s health, but he

just care of himself, and his position, and this is also one of the examples of the theme of

hypocrisy in the book. Finally, the character that guides the novel, has also some differences

and similarities between the character in its film version. We think that the general impression

of the characteristic features of Kurtz looks same in both the film and the book. Even if their

occupations are different from each other, they are both genius, and there is not a possiblty to

be not impressed by their cleverness. In the film, Kurtz who is a great soldier, and have lots of

success in his field, and once was admired by the Army, kills four Vietnamesee, and then, he

is accused of murdering those people in his own. He thinks that murdering is a thing a soldier

does in a war context, and murdering should not be a case for someone to be accused of
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because it is in the nature of the war itself, so he finds those accusations towards himself

hypocrite. Therefore, according to him, the judgments that are made to him does not make

sense, and because of that hypocrisy he cannot longer abide by the moral values of the Army,

and goes jungles in Vietnam to be seen as God who is not judged. Of course, eventually he

starts to be mad because of those kind of ideas, and the horror that he sees in the jungle. When

we turn our attention to the book, Kurtz is also talented and a genius man, and he also hates

the hypocricies and lies of his superiors. When the Manager arrives at the Inner Station and

says that they come to rescue him, he says that the thing that they want to save is not him, it is

the ivory, and he also gets mad because of what he sees in among the natives. In addition to

this, the relationship between Marlow and Kurtz is different from Willard and Kurtz. In the

book, we can see a more intimate relationship between them, however, in the film, Willard is

the one who kills Kurtz who actually dies on his own in the book. Overall, we think that the

message is same for both the book, and the film, which is a madness as a result of

imperialism, and natives are responsible for both mental and physical illness, also both the

film and book questions the issue of the evil nature of human being.