Apocalypse Now and the Inner Quest

Apocalypse Now

and the dark heart of humanity

"The horror!
The horror! "
- Mr Kurtz / Marlon Brando / Joseph Conrad

Review by LiveReal Agent Ben

Apocalypse Now, the now-classic film that nearly drove Francis Ford Coppola insane and Martin Sheen to meet his maker - as most folks know - was originally based on the short novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

And the story, as most people also know (or were told to memorize in high school when they were forced to read it) is a story about a man who journeys up dark unknown of the Congo River . . .

. . . but it is also a story about an inner journey.

What kind of "inner journey"?

Well, everyone has their opinion. Here is mine.

Somewhere, deep inside the jungles of our own heart, there lurks a "someone" - or a "something" - that we don't understand.

This "someone" has set himself up as a king - or has set herself up as a queen - of some dark, uncivilized, wild, uncharted place.

This person is completely insane.

And he - or she - rules over this place not just as a political leader . . . but as a god.

. . . and he doesn't just behave and rule like a god. He believes - is totally convinced, in fact - that he or she is "God."

And this person - or whatever it is - lurks inside every one of us.

In some traditions, it is given a name: "ego." In other systems, it is referred to by different names. In this story, it is given the name of "Kurtz."

And Apocalypse Now, and Heart of Darkness, is the story about one man's quest to confront the ego.

- or, in a way, to confront himself.

So in a way, we can sit back and enjoy the good movie, or good read - or plow through the homework assignment for class - and never ask too much more about it.

Or, we can ask this:

Will I be content to watch him make the trip . . . or will I make my own?

(pardon me -
I think I just swallowed a bug)

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