Willard

Willard isn't a good story, he didn't end well. He was already screwed up by the war before he was given the mission to assassinate Kurtz. Even though he didn't succumb to the same influences that Kurtz did, he certainly felt them and understood the path Kurtz took on his way to insanity/enlightenmnet. Ultimately, he slaughtered Kurtz like a stockyard animal. You are left not knowing if he did it to take Kurtz' place or complete the assigned mission. Reject the system (kill Kurtz and replace him) or abide by the system (kill Kurtz and leave); his only two choices. Either way, he had no where to go, no place he felt he belonged, so perhaps it really didn't matter. Maybe it was this helplessness that tormented him, that he couldn't choose his own path. You aren't given that information in the movie, and there isn't a character similar to Willard in /Heart of Darkness/, at least not in enough detail to make a ready comparison.

Don't be Willard.

Exerpt from email from Lee Brewster