Marlon Brando gets no more than eighteen minutes of screen time in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, but his performance is considered one of the most legendary of the history of cinema. His portrayal of Colonel Kurtz painted a dark picture of a tribal leader gone mad. Similarly, Kurtz in the book “Heart of Darkness” has a mysterious aura around him, suggesting ambition as well as malice. However, the most interesting thing about Kurtz is that most of the information we know about him is second-hand and so, for much of the book, his character is revealed by what others say about him. Looking at the parallel of Kurtz in the film, there are some small but crucial differences that end up changing the viewer's opinion of Marlow. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The very first mention of Kurtz in "Heart of Darkness" occurs when Marlow meets the Company's very well-dressed chief accountant: One day he remarked without raising his head, "Inside you will no doubt meet Mr. Kurtz." When I asked him who Mr. Kurtz was, he said he was a first-class agent; and seeing my disappointment at this information, he added slowly, putting down his pen, "He is a truly extraordinary person." Further questioning made him realize that Mr. Kurtz was currently in charge of a trading post, a very important one, in the real ivory country, "right down there." Send as much ivory as all the others put together...” He began writing again. The patient was too sick to moan. The flies buzzed in great peace. He remained thoughtful for a moment. "When you see Mr. Kurtz," he continued, "tell him from me that everything here" - he looked at the bridge - "is very satisfactory. I don't like to write to him - with those couriers of ours you never know who might get hold of your letter - at that Central Station. He stared at me for a moment with his mild, bulging eyes. "Oh, he will go far, far away," he began again. "He will soon be someone in the administration. you know, they want it to be. From this we learn several things. Kurtz, for example, is highly regarded within the company, for his ability to import enormous quantities of ivory, more than all the other workers combined. But so how is this possible? Is he simply an excellent worker, a genius at collecting ivory? Or is there another illicit method Kurtz is using to collect so much ivory, it is very likely? that the Company is aware of Kurtz's illegitimate methods but chooses to ignore them for the sake of profit, casting doubt on the intentions of both Kurtz and the Company. This is further demonstrated by the fact that the accountant believes that Kurtz's future rise to senior management is a certainty and not a possibility. The entire passage - which serves as an introduction to Kurtz's character - has an ominous tone, suggesting many things about Kurtz and the Company, but never stating them outright. In contrast, when we watch "Apocalypse Now", we see that Willard has undertaken a specific mission to kill Colonel Kurtz. What this does is turn the viewer squarely against Kurtz, painting him as a villain rather than a mysterious character from the beginning of the film. Yet Willard sees no need to “end with extreme prejudice” while the United States itself is busy fighting a war in which millions of lives are senselessly lost. Why does the United States want to devote so much time and energy to fighting a colonel who, in the big pictureof things, doesn't it seem to have a big impact on the overall outcome of the war? Willard, however, seems to doubt Kurtz's evilness rather than seek it as Marlow does. When Marlow travels to the Intermediate Station, he is uncomfortable meeting the Station Director. He notes that the director is “obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect. It inspired discomfort." We can consider the Manager as an obstacle for Kurtz, who seems to have influence, even over those people over whom he technically does not have command. Marlow even goes so far as to think that the warden doesn't deserve his position: his position had occurred to him, why? Maybe because he has never been sick. He had served three three-year terms out there. Because triumphant health in the general defeat of constitutions is in itself a sort of power. When he came home on leave, he let loose on a grand scale, pompously. Jack on the ground, with one difference, only outdoors. This could be guessed from his informal speeches. He didn't create anything, he could keep the routine going, that's all. But it was fantastic. It was so great for this little thing that it was impossible to say what a man like that could control. However, when it comes time to talk about Kurtz, the director becomes anxious and restless. He wishes to go to the Inner Station to check on Kurtz, citing his importance to the company. The two people who know Kurtz so far seem to have a fixation, almost a reverence towards Kurtz, speaking of him in high-sounding terms. But the sudden change in the manager's attitude and his nervousness over Kurtz's condition make us curious about what's going on behind the scenes. Only a few pages later, however, we can glimpse the director's true intentions: “As I approached the glow of darkness I found myself behind two men, talking. I heard Kurtz's name spoken, then the words: "Take advantage of this unfortunate incident." One of the men was the manager.” Is the manager simply a man jealous of Kurtz's success or is there another ulterior motive? The Station brickmaker, however, speaks of Kurtz as "a prodigy", calling him "an emissary of mercy, science and progress, and the devil knows what else". growing influence, and how this threatens the station manager's position: "It's unpleasant," grunted the uncle. “He asked the Administration to be sent there,” said the other, “with the idea of ​​showing what he could do; and I was educated accordingly. Look at the influence man must have. Isn't that scary?" "Yes," replied the director; 'he sent his assistant down the river with a note in these terms: "Take this poor devil out of the country, and do not bother to send any more of the kind. I would rather be alone than have with me the kind of men you can dispose of. It was more than a year ago. Can you imagine such impudence!" "Nothing since then?" asked the other in a hoarse voice. "Ivory," gasped the nephew; "Very... very good quality. ..very annoying, of him." "And with that?" asked the loud rumble. "Hell," was the reply, so to speak. Then silence. They were talking about Kurtz. Before meeting Kurtz in person, Marlow reads a report that Kurtz prepared for a philanthropic society, an essay that talks about the importance of civilizing the supposed "savages" in Africa. He is struck by the beauty of the writing and the persuasiveness of his arguments, and if it were not for the The last scribbled note, "Exterminate all the brutes!" would not have developed his later ambivalence towards Kurtz: “It was very simple, and the end of that touching appeal to every altruistic feeling blazed at you, bright and terrifying, like a flash of lightning in a skyserene". It's worth noting that it's at this moment that we first glimpse Kurtz's dark side. Before this incident, all the information Marlow knew about Kurtz was second-hand: they gleaned information from the way people behaved and talked about him. Before Marlow confronts Kurtz, he meets another person, Kurtz's personal assistant, described as a harlequin. He sings praises of Kurtz, stating, "'I tell you,' he cried, 'this man has enlarged my mind.'" There are three main vantage points from which to start with this. First, we can understand from the harlequin the type of character that Kurtz attracts: an unusual and impressionable young man. Secondly, Kurtz is really the kind of person who takes advantage of such a person. Finally, the Harlequin reveals Kurtz's secret: how does he get so much ivory? The truth is much more sinister than Marlow could have imagined - states the harlequin: Well, I had a small lot of ivory which the chief of that village near my house had given me. You see, I was shooting for them. Well, he wanted it and didn't want to listen to reason. He declared that he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then left the country, because he could do it, and he felt like it, and there was nothing in the world to stop him from killing whomever he pleased. And it was also true. I gave him the ivory. What did I care! So Kurtz illegally forced the people around him, including the Russian harlequin and the natives, to hand over their ivory under threat of death: "'There are quite a few cartridges left even after we raided the country,' I said ”.The equivalent of the harlequin in “Apocalypse Now” would be the American photojournalist, unabashed and free in his veneration of Kurtz. But there are some key differences: the harlequin is described as having a “beardless, boyish face.” and dressed in flashy, ostentatious colors, yet the photojournalist is middle-aged and dressed in drab clothes - someone who is not as impressionable as the Harlequin Harlequin. However, the main similarity between them is that they are both impressed by Kurtz and his personality: they would do anything for him. We first meet Kurtz in person more than four-fifths of the way through the book, and the meeting is memorable: the white men carry Kurtz out of his cabin on a stretcher, and the harlequin warns Marlow that a Unless he says the right thing to Kurtz, everyone on the steamer will be killed. After Kurtz boards the steamer, Marlow hears him berate the station manager for trying to interfere with his plans. The Manager's response is to cite Kurtz's careless methods for obtaining the ivory as the reason, but it is ambiguous whether the Manager truly cares about his methods or that Kurtz is usurping his position. In “Apocalypse Now,” Kurtz is not shown on a stretcher as a handicapped individual, but rather as a tribal leader through the creative use of shadows. He is more hostile than his book counterpart, capturing and torturing Willard and beheading Chef. However, he accepts that Willard has come to kill him and appears to do little to prevent it. Kurtz's motivations in both the book and the film are difficult to decipher. On the one hand, he is depicted as a power-hungry individual who has lost his sanity. On the other hand, he sometimes seems like a normal, ambitious person who became disillusioned with the European moral system and attempted to create his own. First of all, many of the people Marlow meets at the beginning of the book don't like him: the station manager and his uncle plot to take down Kurtz and wish him to be defeated by the weather: "Hmm." That's right,” grunted the uncle. «Ah! my boy, trust this... I tell you, trust this." I saw him extend his short flipper arm in a gesture.