Comparing Marlow from Heart of Darkness and Willard of Apocalypse NowWhenever a book is adapted for film, changes inevitably have to be made. Film offers several advantages and disadvantages over books: it is not as adept at exploring the inner workings of people - it cannot explore their minds as easily; However, the film's added visual and audio capabilities open up whole new realms of the imagination that, in the hands of a competent writer-director, can more than compensate. Heart of Darkness relies heavily on lengthy philosophical and expository passages, as well as some very unusual and complex imagery; “it’s not the easiest material to rewrite as a screenplay” (Canby, 18). However, Francis Ford Coppola rewrote it, changing the time and location of the novel from 19th century Congo to 20th century Vietnam. Coppola made an original film, with concepts and ideas taken from Heart of Darkness, rather than making a direct film version of the book. Therefore, there are many similarities and differences between the film and the book. The character Marlow is renamed Willard in Apocalypse Now. This is remarkable; the character of Kurtz has the same name in the text and in the film, so why not Marlow? “This is probably because Kurtz's character in the film is almost identical to that in the book, while Willard is very different from Marlow” (Benner, 34). Kurtz is the person who has become disconnected from society; he is not tied to any particular era, so his character functions as effectively in the 20th century as he did in the 19th. However, Marlow is the ordinary person in Heart of Darkness – the only ordinary man in the whole book, more or less; it is he who links the book to the society of ...... middle of paper ......tif/Symbol/Metaphor http://164.116.90.3/public/jarvinen/an.html (accessed on January 23, 2014). 2000).Benner, Ralph Heart of Darkness: A Ralph Benner Film Review http://uk.imdb.com/Reviews/57/5777 premiered 1996 (accessed January 26, 2000).Canby, Vincent. “Apocalypse now.” The New York Times Movie Reviews. New York: The New York Times and Arno Press, 1981. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness and the Sharer of Secrets. New York: Penguin Books, 1978. Fortmeyer, Russell. Rage-Filled Apocalypse Cast http://collegian.ksu.edu/issues/v099B/fa/n022/ae-apocalypse-fortmeyer.html premiered 1994 (accessed January 23, 2000).Heart of Darkness: Theme/Symbol / Allusion/Foreshadow http://164.116.90.3/public/jarvinen/hod.html (accessed January 23, 2000). Urch, Martin. Apocalypse Now: A film review by Martin Urch http://us.imdb.com/Reviews/30/3030 created in 1994 (accessed January 23. 2000).