Much as I love the movie and I did see the Redux version
recently, there's no way on earth that it's a better story
than Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"! Just to say so is,
in itself, a heresy. Also, as an aside, you might be
interested to know that Conrad's main character in the story
is Marlowe, which ties into our discussion neatly. Conrad
came to English late in life--it was his third or fourth
language--and became one of the supreme stylists in the
language. I've always been amazed by that. The archetypal
trip up the river to pull out Kurtz is the supreme
anti-colonial story and the actual state of Kurtz, a hollow
shell of his former self, is fitting, as, throughout the
story, we're told to expect great things and we're expecting
to find a figure of greatness when Marlowe finally finds him.
That Kurtz dies without much of a struggle fits the story, as
we're left to ponder on what brought him to this state.
Marlowe himself sees how easy it would be to succumb to the
call of nature and take Kurtz's place.
Sorry, but I just had enough of this talk that Coppola
somehow better one of the all-time great stories. Sure, it
was neat that he managed to dovetail it with Vietnam, but
you're somehow overlooking that fact that he lifts the story
pretty much wholesale from Conrad. Without Conrad, there is
no Apocalypse Now.
Craig Larson Trinidad, CO
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