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Who Is Kurtz In Apocalypse Now

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Apocalypse Now Summary At the peak of the war in Vietnam, experienced soldier and covert operative Captain Willard is sent on a top secret mission that officially does not exist. His objective is to travel down the Nung River by a Navy PBR boat and assassinate a Green Beret Colonel named Walter E. Kurtz. Kurtz has penetrated the farthest reaches of the Cambodian jungle and has established himself as a god in a native Montagnard tribe. He has lost his mind, and leads guerrilla attacks on the Viet Cong and NVA which, while extremely successful, are reported to use methods which are “unsound”. Through the course of the journey up the river into dense and increasingly dangerous jungle, Willard confronts not only the horrors and hypocrisy of war that pushed Kurtz to insanity, but the violent primordial nature of humanity and the darkness of his own heart. Discussion of Characters Captain Willard …show more content…

He is a largely passive character, sending the majority of the film observing an internalising what happens to those around him. Through this internalisation, Willard realises the disconcerting ironies of war and attempts to insert a faint notion of morality. He is introduced as a broken man, who has been irreversibly changed by his first tour of duty to the extent that he no longer belongs in a civilised society. The jungle, although completely unknown and dangerous, is his only safe haven. He is alone in a hotel room in Saigon drinking heavily, showing his descent into his own misery and emphasising the psychological effects of

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