Francis Ford Coppola's film of horror in Vietnam, Apocalypse Now, borrows its narrative structure from Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness. Essentially, Coppola transported the nineteenth century tale of personal depravity to the jungles of twentieth century Vietnam. The effect of this change in setting is inherently tied to the change of time and the political situation, and, while there are a great many similarities between the two narratives, Coppola's movie portrays a much darker, and more menacing version of the novel.

Conrad's novel is set in the nineteenth century Belgian Congo, and focuses on the character of Charles Marlow, an experienced sailor who has been hired by a European trading company as a captain of one of their steamboats. His employer requires Marlow to travel up the river and find Mr. Kurtz, another employee of the trading company that the home office believes is helping himself to company-owned ivory.

The setting of Coppola's film contrasts sharply with the setting of Conrad's novel. The film is set in twentieth century Southeast Asia, and depicts the confusion, violence, fear, and nightmarish madness of th

Just as Marlow had to contemplate the actions of his fellow Europeans as he watched the natives in shackles, this scene from Apocalypse Now creates questions such as, "What are the moral implications of imperialism? What is acceptable human conduct? And do we all harbor a secret 'fascination with the abomination?' " (Cahir 185).

e Vietnam War. The focus of the film is on Captain Benjamin Willard, who is a hired assassin in the American armed forces. Like Marlow, Willard is sent by his employer to find another employee, Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, who has gone mad. Coppola's Kurtz, like Conrad's, is an accomplished man, and a "distinguished operations Commander in the Special Forces" (Cahir 181), but, he is believed to have gone totally insane. He runs his own private army in the Cambodian jungle, and is worshiped as a God by a native tribe. He is charged with executing Vietnamese intelligence agents, who he believes were double agents. Even though Colonel Kurtz's troops are successful in fighting the North Vietnamese, his methods are considered to be "unsound."

Cahir, Linda C. "Narratological parallels in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Francis

Marlow's first stop in the Congo is at the government seat at the mouth of the river. At this point, Conrad shows his readers the horrors caused by European imperialism. Enslaved natives are bound to each other by iron collars and chains: "A lot of people, mostly black and naked, moved about like ants" (Conrad 18). Marlow realizes that these people were not enemies or criminals, but victims of the unconscionable imperial system that transformed people into "black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom" (Conrad 20). In the midst of all this suffering, Marlow encounters a white man who stands out because of his "unexpected elegance of get-up" (Conrad, 21). This "miracle" is the company's chief accountant.

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 1988.

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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)