In this article LaBrasca claims that Apocalypse Now was inspired by Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness, and that their was no mention of Joseph Conrad's name is the picture credits. Labrasca beleieves that this is it how it should be as Joseph Conrad would not have been particularly flattered with the association. LaBrasca indicates that the themes of HOD have been discarded for a "thinner and less resonant vision." .
Joseph Conrad, a Pole, wrote HOD in his third language. The novella was based on a haunting journey made to the heart of the Congo eight years before he wrote his book. The story is presented to us in retrospect through Marlow, the narrator, on a pleasure yacht. Marlow's vivid insistent rhetorical style and his sarcasm add a certain flavor to the haunting journey made to the heart of the void soul of humanity. Marlow describes the Eurpean mission of "progress" in Africa as a "transparent disguise" for greed. Marlow unrelentingly claims that colonialism is a "devil" that is the result of "blind ambition." This "devil" is depicted in one man; Kurtz the object of Marlow's journey. Kurtz is portrayed to us as a "universal genius" the "very flower" of European civilization. As Marlow progresses in his journey we begin to see the "avaricious" Europeans who populate the "civilized" outposts, the oppressed natives, and amid all this Kurtz emerges as a sign of hope. When Marlow approaches Kurtz's "citadel" he sees a great deal of ivory, obedient Africans, and skulls of "rebels" surrounding Kurtz's shack. Kurtz emerges as an image of death and insanity eaten up by his own ambition. Kurtz finally cries the horror the horror and dies. The darkness of HOD illuminates the "grim emptiness" of personal ambition, the vanity of power's claim to civilization, and the frail evil that lurks in even the best of emissaries. As LaBrasca sees it HOD predicts Vietnam.
LaBrasca indicates that Coppola's movie is "so much less than the little book that gave it the spark of birth.