Having seen the film countless times, I still havent made up my mind about Kurtz. Was he a fallen hero? Was he a great but bad man? Was he just a lunatic?
What exactly do you understand of the man? Did he deserve to die?
All thoughts would be very interesting.
As a side note, Wouldnt it be cool if you could put Kurtz and Hannibal Lector in a room together, be certain they wouldnt kill eachother and record the conversation?
2006-08-18 03:45:20 · 5 answers · asked by Caffeine Fiend 4 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Movies
As a made up character, Kurtz works as the straw in the drink. No Kurtz, no movie.
However, Col. Kurtz as depicted in the film is a bit off the original Kurtz as developed by Conrad in "Heart of Darkness". Coppola cast Brando with the situpulation that he re-read "Heart of Darkness". Brando shows up and runs off into the forrest with the extras, and refused to speak to Coppola, ... after much stupidity and game playing on Brando's part it finally becomes known that Brando never read "Heart of Darkness", nor the script for A.N.
Coppola built the character from the scraps of film he could get on Brando. This is maybe the best example of how an editor and a narrator can actually make a character that doesn't exist. Cudos to Coppola for managing the whole mess.
The Kurtz aura mirrors that of Ahab's in "Moby Dick": a man driven mad by ambition; moreover, the world he builds in the jungle is the distillation of primative human ambition. The journey down the river is an allegory of moving further and further into humanity's collective unconscience. Deep into the Jungian world of myth and hero as profiled by Joseph Campbell in "Hero of a Thousand Faces".
For a little on-camera proof of the above theroy: look at Kurtz's nightstand. On the nightstand you will find a volume of "The Golden Bough" by Sir James Frazer. Frazer was a Scottish ethnographic researcher of myth and ritual and was the foundation for Jung, Campbell and many others. Another book on the nightstand is Weston's, "From Ritual to Romance". Weston's work is an academic of the King Arthur/Holy Grail tale. Weston's work was cited by T.S. Elliot in "The Wasteland" and of course, Elliot is quoted by Kurtz in a few lines to Dennis Hopper:
"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece stuffed with straw. Alas!"
Back to the Brando: A punk with a great face.
Kurtz - he is you, unfettered.
2006-08-18 05:22:28 · answer #1 · answered by bill s 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Viet Nam war was so insane that nothing Kurtz could do would be wrong. Carpet bombing innocent people and defoliating an entire country - for what? Kurtz's point was - that if you were there to WIN, you do whatever it takes. And if you're not, then why the hell be there at all?
Seems an awful lot like what's going on in Iraq, doesn't it?
2006-08-18 14:21:38 · answer #2 · answered by Danger, Will Robinson! 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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2014-09-16 03:39:24 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The film does get across the feeling that in certain war situations, right and wrong lose relevance - leaving only do or don't do as the options.
2006-08-18 10:53:10 · answer #4 · answered by Andy benitez 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Brilliant mind but he went insane.
2006-08-18 11:09:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋