As a white, bald, philosopher of war, Judge Holden, (a.k.a "the Judge") argues throughout the novel for a "might makes right" view of the Wild West, exemplifying a sort of Nietzschean "will to power." This will to power seeks to cease judgement by crushing judgment, thus creating an ironical passing of judgement on all those who cross the warrior's path.
In Francis Ford Coppola's film, Apocalypse Now (1979), there is a character, Colonel Kurtz (based on Joseph Conrad's character of the same name in Heart of Darkness), who closely resembles Judge Holden in appearance and philosophy. Also large, white and bald, Kurtz is depicted by the actor, Marlon Brando, who channels a monologue on violence, often called "The Horror of it All" speech. In his speech, Brando muses on the inability of the American soldier to win the war in Vietnam, mostly because the American soldier doesn't have the will to win; not like the enemy, who not only has the will to win, but has the heart to be as ruthlessly violent as necessary to win, as well.
Though it is well-known that McCarthy found inspiration for Judge Holden in Samuel Chamberlain's My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue (1956), in this blog post, I explore the similarities between these two characters and propose the possibility that Cormac McCarthy found inspiration in Brando's improvised performance of Colonel Kurtz, and used this monologue as the model for Judge Holden's character in Blood Meridian. To find a possible connection between McCarthy's inspiration for Judge Holden, it might help to look at Brando's inspiration for Kurtz.
As reported by Dennis Hopper and Francis Coppola in an interview on the Making of Apocalypse Now, Marlon Brando didn't read Heart of Darkness. I don't consider it as inspiration for Brando's interpretation of Colonel Kurtz. However, in considering the recent release of the documentary "Listen to Me Marlon," which explores the practice of talk therapy, whereby Brando would record his own voice, seemingly to help himself talk through his problems. Though this is a believable interpretation of Brando's talk sessions, it could possible be that this practice of recording himself may well have incidentally helped Brando brainstorm his subconscious in search of Colonel Kurtz. It could have been a sort of character identification, a tool of method acting whereby actors get closer to the character they are trying to portray. But, that's a secondary point I'll develop in a future blog post.
It is my contention here that Brando may have been exploring his subconscious mind via the recorded monologues, during the time of the filming of Apocalypse Now, and the effect creation was Colonel Kurtz. He relied on his intuition on the set, which produced much consternation and conflict with other actors and the director. He knew, after many years of successful acting, to rely on his instincts. He knew how to explore a character. Even though some have alleged that "he was crazy" (Rita Moreno), it may be possible that this was a technique Brando used to delve deeper into character. Brando refused to confine his creativity to the script. At one point, Coppola even decided to just roll tape during all of Brando's improvisational monologues, hoping for a few gems to keep for the final cut. After sifting through tapes of recorded film, Coppola decided on the following lines.
In a conversation between Brando's character, Colonel Kurtz, and the lone soldier sent to kill him, Brando states, "Have you ever considered any real freedoms, freedoms, from the opinions of others, even the opinions of yourself?" It seems here that Brando is focusing on the problem of conscience in the mind of a mass murderer. Later on, Brando/Kurtz, speaks of the violence of the Vietnam War:
"I've seen horrors, horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that. But you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face. And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces, seems a thousand centuries ago, we went into a camp to inoculate the children. We left the camp after . . . and this old man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went back there and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile, a pile of little arms. And, I remember, I-I-I cried. I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And, I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to forget. And then I realized, like I was shot, like I was shot with a diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead...And I thought: My God...the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not monsters...These were men...trained cadres...these men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love...but they had the strength...the strength...to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral...and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling...without passion... without judgement...without judgement. Because it's judgement that defeats us."
As Kurtz is killed by Willard, Kurtz utters his final words, "The horror. The horror."
Imagining Cormac McCarthy saw this film, and was deeply moved (I haven't asked him, so I only presume this happened), he might have modeled Judge Holden on the powerful presence portrayed by Brando's Kurtz.
In Blood Meridian, the narrator describes Judge Holden's band of scalp-hunters as “A legion of horribles . . . death hilarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of Christian reckoning.”
When the Judge declares, “It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way."
“A man seeks his own destiny and no other, said the judge. Wil or nill. Any man who could discover his own fate and elect therefore some opposite course could only come at last to that selfsame reckoning at the same appointed time, for each man's destiny is as large as the world he inhabits and contains within it all opposites as well. The desert upon which so many have been broken is vast and calls for largeness of heart but it is also ultimately empty. It is hard, it is barren. Its very nature is stone.”
“A man's at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with. He can know his heart, but he dont want to. Rightly so. Best not to look in there. It aint the heart of a creature that is bound in the way that God has set for it. You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it.”
“He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.”
“Whatever exists, he said. Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent."
What is this monster, the Judge? Who is this Col. Kurtz? I will further compare these two characters in future posts.
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