Blog #4- Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)

The movie Apocalypse Now Redux (2001) is based off of Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness. The director of the movie used the same kind of descriptions that Joseph Conrad used to describe Kurtz. Conrad made Kurtz a huge man who could control any group of people and convince them to follow him. The director of Apocalypse Now chose an actor who portrayed all the characteristics described by Conrad. They both kept Kurtz very mysterious, dangerous, and frightening. 

The movie shows Kurtz being captivated by darkness. From the moment we, as the audience, meet Kurtz for the first time, his entire face is hidden in the shadows. You could notice the huge size of this man and you could hear his voice, but you could not see his face. It made you question who Kurtz is, what he is doing, and why his face is hidden. Throughout the movie, his face continued to be hidden in the darkness, but each time we saw him, he showed a little bit more of his face. He began to show part of his face or just his eyes. The darkness of his face shows how mysterious Kurtz is and how frightening he really is.

Another characteristic that makes him so terrifying is the fact that he is so large, the way he looks, and his voice. Kurtz is a giant man; he is taller than all the other men that are around him and he is much stronger than them as well. He has a dark eyes and a mean, angry scowl on his face at all times. He has such a frightening voice as well. You would expect him to have a deep, booming voice, but his voice is actually high-pitched and is eerily sing-song like. This contradiction not only further shows the mysteriousness in Kurtz, but also adds to the reasons that make him so intimidating and frightening. 

Kurtz could also make anyone follow him. In the movie, a soldier just like Willard, (the Marlow of the movie) was sent on the same mission as Willard, to go and get Kurtz and shut down what he was doing. This soldier ended up going there and following Kurtz, even though the soldier had direct orders to get him. If Kurtz could convince him to follow him, then he could convince anyone to follow him. The power that Kurtz had over people was especially terrifying. Everything about Kurtz is frightening, from the way he looks and his size, to his voice, and even to the power he had over people.