Headhunting has been the subject of much discussion within the anthropological community as to its possible social roles, functions, and motivations. Themes that arise in anthropological writings about  

Contemporary scholars generally agree that its primary function was ceremonial and that it was part of the process of structuring, reinforcing, and defending hierarchical relationships between communities and individuals. Some experts theorize that the practice stemmed from the belief that the head contained "soul matter" or life force, which could be harnessed through its capture.

“The heads.  You’re looking at the heads.  Sometimes he goes too far.  He’s the first one to admit it.”                  

                       --Photographer (Dennis Hopper character) to Captain Willard

Marlon had a lot of time on his hands as Francis was deeply embroiled in getting the Kurtz compound scene up and running, as well as working and fighting with Dennis Hopper.  Amidst it all, Marlon began reading one of the literary offerings made available to him by his director.

“We are the hollow men.  We are the stuffed men.  Leaning together.  Headpiece filled with straw.  We are the hollow men.  We are the stuffed men.  We are the hollow men.  The hollow men...the hollow men”

Marlon, now adorned in his black pajamas, sat far off to the side, reading these first words from T.S. Eliot’s poem, Hollow Men, and then seemingly meditating on them.  The Ifugao children who played around him sensed a different, more intense, contemplative vibe coming from Mr. Brando, allotting him sufficient space.

“The hollow men...hollow men.  We are the hollow men.  The stuffed men...” 

Marlon kept repeating these words to himself, over and over again.  He found it mesmerizing to say it.  The words also sparked his imagination.  It was as if he were chanting the words. 

“We are the hollow men.  We are the stuffed men.”

The words were helping Marlon morph into the person of Kurtz, as well as Kurtz into the person of Marlon Brando.  Marlon was beginning to feel as if the story of Walter E. Kurtz was the story of Marlon Brando.  Marlon believed that he was in fact hollow, that he had been stuffed and propped up with all the trappings of Western civilization, and that when all these things are removed, that he is in fact quite hollow.  His headpiece is filled with straw, things dead, dry, things ripe for the cleansing power of the flame.  Marlon wanted the cleansing flame, or at least to be loosed from all the things cluttering his mind, heart, soul, and body.  The old Time and Newsweek articles about the Vietnam War no longer interested Marlon.  Instead, he found himself paging through and eventually reading the books that Francis recommended for him, the books he envisioned being a part of Kurtz’s library.  Marlon would study Frazier’s Golden Bough, ponder the Faustian Bargain, even explore the possibility of the Christian Apocalypse, but it would be Eliot’s The Hollow Men that would continue to intrigue Marlon and be his motivation in his role as Kurtz.  

Amongst Colonel Kurtz's reading material was T.S. Eliot's 1925 poem, "The Hollow Men."  It is believed that the title was inspired by Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness who is referred to as a "hollow sham" and "hollow at the core".  The epigraph to the poem of "Mistah Kurtz – he dead", is an allusion to Conrad's character.

Some critics read the poem as told from three perspectives, each representing a phase of the passing of a soul into one of death's kingdoms ("death's dream kingdom", "death's twilight kingdom", and "death's other kingdom"). Eliot describes how we, the living, will be seen by "Those who have crossed/With direct eyes [...] not as lost/Violent souls, but only/As the hollow men/The stuffed men."