CLUSTER 5

Apocalypse Now", the movie: A review

Introduction

"Apocalypse Now" is an adaptation from novel "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. However the setting and the name of the hero are changed. The setting for Apocalypse now is in Vietnam, particularly of Nuang Thrang River.

I consider "Apocalypse Now" is a rough movie. This movie shows how in a war people will loose their sense of humanity, sense of judgment and revelation of the Human Dark soul. It is also a movie about colonialism and imperialism. There are also sense of horror and the dark souls of the people.

Apocalypse in definition means the destruction and end of the world or a situation in which a lot of people die or suffer, and a lot of damage is done. The title itself represent the movie as a whole where so many innocent people were killed unnecessarily and so many destruction were made to the locals and the nature of the colonized country.

Themes Review

1. Colonialism

Colonialsm could lead to destruction not only to the living things but also to the nature. Colonialism could cause local people to fight to protect their motherland which could lead to war and killing each other.

2. Fighting against and for self

In the movie, most of the soldiers are shooting to safe their own lives. They go to war because they have to this could be seen where a soldier as young as 17 years old was drafted to Vietnam to fight the locals. There are also elements of afraid of their own shadow. In war nobody can trust anybody. Anybody can be your friends and anybody can be your enemy or even your killer.

Cinematography

Most scenes in the movie use low lighting which displays dark situation especially to the journey of the boat in the night and Kurtz's place. This is significant as the movie is the adaptation of the novel "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad.

CLUSTER 5

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad: A Review


Introduction

In my opinion, I found that the novel "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad is not an easy novel to comprehend. This is may be due to the language use or language construction which makes it difficult for me to digest. It is not a novel which can make me feel like reading it non-stop once I have opened the first page. I could say that I have given up in reading the original novel. I have to look up for the abridge version of the novel to understand eventhough it is not the same as the original one.

Plot Summary

setting of this story takes place along the Congo River in Africa. And it is about the slavery and colonialism of the whitemen upon the black or African Natives in the turn of the century. "Heart of Darkness" is a story about a sailor or rather a frequent traveler who is looking for a new location to go for his next trip. He would like very much to travel along the longest river in Africa, that is the Congo River. Through his Aunt's contacts and friends he got a job as a captain for a steamboat. His mission is to find a man name Kurtz.

Themes

Major themes in Heart of Darkness:

1. A mythical Journey into self

While Heart of Darkness is Conrad's autobiographical account of his trip into the Congo and his commnetary on colonialism, it is more significantly a symbolic journey into the dark recesses of the human psyche, a story given dreamlike qualities with Conrad's methods and techniques.

2. Marlow Explores the boundaries between life and death

Marlow goes to the Congo fascinated with death though naive about its reality. The dangers he encounters winding his way up the snakelike river teach him to limit his involvement with the symbolic dark wilderness and Kurtz if he is to survive physically and psychologically.

3. Marlow Gains Insight through work

Just when Marlow is most despairing about the deplorable conditions of the native Africans and the blind gred of the ivory trade, he discovers that repairing the steamer is useful work. The struggle to maneuver the boat up the Congo with his native helmsman becomes for him a symbol of focus and meaning.

4. In the context of Colonialism and imperialism

Conrad shows that imperialism has detrimental effects on the native Congo population: more warfare, a breakdown of tribal systems. loss of community and social values, and worsened economic conditions. He finds European whites to be unpleasantly hypocritical and presumptuous. Conrad recognizes that although colonialists interfered in the lives of native Africans to improve them, in reality, imperialism and colonial presence exploited innocent people and often destroyed.


Conclusions

Heart of Darkness is a novel of twentieth- century fiction and thought. Conrad developed artistics methods to investigate psychological conditions of human and behaviour and to raise issues concerning modern social and political morality.

Submitted to:

En. Airil Haimi Mohd Adnan

Lecturer TSL 570

UiTM Perak

Semester Jul. 2008