The horror...the horror.
Heart of Darkness is a late 19th century novella by Joseph Conrad centered around Charles Marlow taking over the crew of a steamboat on a great river in the free state of Congo(nowadays known as Democratic Republic of the Congo), and his obsession with Mr.Kurtz.
It's powerful message has inspired dozens of future projects for various mediums, such as Aguirre, the Wrath of God(1972) and Apocalypse Now(1979) in Cinema, and Spec Ops: The Line(2012) and Far Cry 2(2008) in Gaming.
Profound important themes playing for this novel including racism, imperialism, xenophobia and worst of all, colonialism, which is the indirect reason why the charming foreign leader Mr.Kurtz utters his most famous words just before passing away.
Charles Marlow is fascinated by Mr.Kurtz's unique position, being able to bring the best out of his pilgrims and followers, while his philosophy makes him ponder and criticize civilization back in the Western world.
Heart of Darkness is elegantly and intelligently written by Conrad as literature, and it has been studied by scholars for decades. It makes parallel comparisons to England and Congo as places of darkness, where ingredients for injustice are blooming, give the right circumstances, and they can make any man go insane.
Rating: ***(out of 4)
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