Oct 01 2008
“This was the end of the river alright.”
While I was watching this movie, I automatically thought of this scene as a katabasis for Captain Willard because he said, “This was the end of the river alright.” The scenes prior to this the crew is sailing down the river to try and find Kurtz. This is much like The Odyssey where Odysseus had to reach the underworld by sailing there. Therefore, once Willard declares that the river has come to an end, he is emphasizing that he has entered “the underworld.” I could not find the other clip that I wanted to embed in which Kurtz says that if you do not allow horror to be your friend, it must be your enemy and it consumes you. This shows just how horrible the island really is (and that it is much like the underworld). It is full of lost souls, including Kurtz’s, that just wanted someone to “take the pain away”. Captain Willard was there to save the island from Kurtz’s craziness and end his pain by killing him. Because the island represents the underworld so accurately, the journey there for Willard is his katabasis.
Okay, the embedded object didn’t really work so here is the link to the youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BqloFdNq…