Searching for Meaning in Apocalypse Now Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now takes audiences on a tense and mystical journey through the Vietnam War. This long and harrowing journey is seen through the eyes of Captain Willard played by Martin Sheen. Shine. Captain Willard is assigned to a mission that relies on him to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando. Although Apocalypse Now is an examination of the many societal terrors related to the Vietnam War, Coppola sources much of his film from Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness. Conrad's story focuses on Captain Marlow who parallels Willard and Colonel Kurtz possesses many of the same characteristics in both works. In both films, the Captain has to find the Colonel, but Coppola makes a very significant change in his film. This significant change is the shift from Captain Marlow being tasked with finding Colonel Kurtz in the Congo, to Captain Willard being tasked with assassinating Colonel Kurtz in Cambodia. The fact that Willard has now become a killer of Kurtz is very important to Coppola over everything. It is especially important in the last ten minutes of the film when Willard actually kills Kurtz. The film's final scenes consist of Kurtz reading the poem "The Hollow Men" and the interaction of Willard killing Kurtz while native Cambodians kill a water buffalo in a ritual setting. These changes and deviations from the ending of Heart of Darkness are made so that Coppola can express his point of view on the war and the society of Vietnam. The point is that the Vietnam War was completely meaningless and a lost cause among many others. However, as will be shown, these points conflict with each other and are difficult to... middle of paper... film. Apocalypse Now is definitely a film for an audience that wants to be stimulated with thought overload. The film is filled with all kinds of Vietnam War metaphors and parallels to Heart of Darkness. Coppola makes changes to Heart of Darkness to make his own point that is very different from Conrad's, but his point is still not entirely clear. Coppola's opposition to war is obvious, but he adds many other elements to try and add even more. Coppola uses Kurtz to examine the importance of not judging, "The Hollowness of Men" and the Christian figure of Kurtz himself. All of these are great ideas, but the ideas are simply scattered throughout the film and show no cohesion. However, one can still appreciate Coppola's thought-provoking ideas without fully understanding their meaning.