Not to be forgotten...

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2007)

Coppola's achievement, while significant, is heavily mitigated by the fact that Apocalypse Now is fundamentally an adaptation of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Many people forget that while Coppola did a great job with the movie, his efforts were made significantly easier by the fact that he was simply changing details from an all-time classic novel, ie the setting - Vietnam for Africa. Even Col. Kurtz has the same name as the character in HoD.
This is all-too-often missed by movie fans. I am a great admirer of the film version and not some kind of cynic who thinks movies butcher novels. However, while I feel that AN has added a great amount to the shelf life of HoD and that it serves as an homage to the original text, I feel that it is Conrad, not Coppola, who deserves the greater credit for the success of AN. Either way, it shows what a fantastic story - and a great exploration of the savagery that is within us all - HoD really is, that it can be adapted in such a way and still remain relevant. Its message, about the heart of darkness that lies within even the most civilised nations, remains as powerful in its new form as in the original print version.