Mark Wolfe
Mrs. Moreland
19 March 2015
The Fear of the Unknown
“Apocalypse Now”, a movie by Francis Ford Coppola and
“Heart of Darkness”, a novel by Joseph Conrad can be compared and contrasted in many ways. They are essentially the same story, set in different time periods with slight differences.
This essay will be focusing on the attack on the boat by the natives. In “Apocalypse now”, Coppola uses Medium and Close shots paired with the fog to create a dense and confused feeling.
It makes it hard to see what is going on. The eery music makes you feel as if the men are in the unknown, and it foreshadows
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the attack. The ambient sound of the natives create a sense of fear. As the natives attack, Coppola continues to use Medium and Close shots on the men, but uses Long shots and Dutch Tilts on the natives to disorient the viewer. The men fire back their massive .50 caliber machine guns as if these natives were the enemy. Captain Willard screams at his men that the natives are firing harmless arrows, that they are just trying to scare them.
Coppola uses Looping as the men fire back and yell, making it hard to hear anything said. When the helmsman is speared, all sound except the sound of the birds and the boat die away to create a dramatic moment, using reverse shotst between the captain and the dying helmsman. The attack ends.
In “Heart of Darkness”, Conrad uses very descriptive language on the setting, the characters, their body