Heart of Darkness

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Summary: heart of darkness
Review: Heart of Darkness was a pretty good book. The wording may be little difficult for some to understand, but most will get it. Futility is a constant reoccurring theme. The main story is actually a man recounting his past. It may be confusing at times whether you are in the present or past. This and the lack of breaking the story in to chapters are the only draw backs. The rich plot line and dynamic characters are greatly portrayed by the author, Joseph Conrad.
The movie Heart of darkness is was a disappointment after reading the book. Aside from being a horrendous piece of film work, it changed many key confrontations and plot points from the book. The events leading up to the ending were changed/erased.
I would suggest to not even bothering contemplating whether or not to watch the film and save yourself some time.


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Summary: An Amazing Book, a Dump of a Movie
Review: Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, had a vivid sense of description that made this book astonishing. When reading this book I had every scene totally drawn out in my head and I knew what every character looked like. This book had many pieces and when I finished reading this book it seemed as the puzzle had been completed. After I finished reading Heat of Darkness, I watched the movie, which was a mistake.
The movie cut out so many substantial parts. For example, in the novel Marlow waited a very long time for the rivets to come for him to fix his boat. This was a big source of futility. In the movie that part was just left out. The movie added more parts that were useless and made no sense. For example, when Kurtz was talking to Marlow at the end of the book and Kurtz snapped the monkey's neck and killed him. What purpose did that scene have, other than to make the audience feel sorry for the monkey? It's as if the script writer didn't even read the whole book and just put the parts that he read in the movie.
If I had not read the novel before I had watched the movie I would have been thoroughly confused. The book was amazing and it is truly a classic in American Literature, but the movie could have defiantly been nominated for the worst picture in the Razzie Awards.


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Summary: Heart of Darkness Comparisons
Review: If I had to choose between reading the book Heart of Darkness and jumping off a ledge into a pit of very hungry caterpillars, I would definitely choose the latter option. However, if the choice was between reading the book and watching the movie, I would pick the second alternative. The novel Heart of Darkness was more put together than the film, and the sequences made more sense to the reader. In the movie, the random flashbacks that may have seemed artistic to the director really just caused the viewer massive confusion. If I hadn't read the book, the movie would have made even less sense, and I would have spaced out even earlier than I did. Watching the film was a complete and utter waste of time. After all, watching a movie that almost entirely differs from the story it was based on seems pointless, because it just makes it hard to distinguish the facts that change from one source to the other.
I appreciate the novel, and I feel like it was really well-written. Joseph Conrad's subtle mocking of the hypocrisies of his time period added a bit of humor and mystery to the story, but it was still a little less action-packed than I would have preferred it to be. The pages and pages of intense descriptions of the characters, settings, and any other random pieces of information seemed unnecessary. It just drew out a story that could have been finished in about a third of the space. In short, while many benefited from and were inspired by the works of Joseph Conrad, the world would have been a happier place without the making of the film Of Heart of Darkness.


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Summary: Pigeons and Gators.
Review: If I had one chance to erase anything from my memory, the movie and novel The Heart of Darkness would be in the top rankings. This novel was very slow and confusing. The author's writing style did not help the misunderstanding that occurs from reading this book. However, I believe that the movie was worse off than the novel. I read the novel before I was forced to watch this tedious movie and it did not seem to help me to be less confused and bored. The movie was a horrible depiction of the book. There were many important concepts and items that were left out completely, changed, or moved to a different part of the movie. Some of those things were so important that it changed the plot of the movie. Joseph Conrad also managed to use an abundance of extra words in so many different areas that it was irritating. In concurrence with the movie leaving out pertinent facts, and the use of unnecessary details, the lack of interesting events made the book's progress very slowly. The most fascinating incident that took place was when Mfumu, the helmsman was killed. As you can see, the book and movie were very uneventful, with the most demented action being the most interesting. However, I give the screenplay writers props for reiterating the theme of the book and movie, futility. Whether it was intentional or not, Joseph Conrad and the director of the movie actually succeeded in creating a horrible story line and movie plot that helped me to catch up on my much needed sleep. So I guess some thanks are in order, because I am more rested and I have completed homework that would have remained unfinished.

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Summary: One Awesome Book
Review: Heart of Darkness is a first person portrayal of the hypocritical and futile rule of Europe over the Congo and its ivory trade. The book is confusing and extremely intellectual, although given time and a little mental elbow-grease one can decipher. Personally I had no difficulty understanding the book but I have become used to his style of prose. Overall some of the best literature I've ever seen.
The T.V. movie is a horse of a different colour mostly because of the rushed sense, turning a story of beautifully intricate chaos, and conspiracy into a spot of bad luck.
I would recommend reading the book before watching the movie so you can be properly disappointed by its lack of artistry, and once you've finished that affair watch Apocalypse Now! It's kind of like taking Valium and Prozac at the same time.


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Summary: Heart of Darkness
Review: "Heart of Darkness" is a deep and well written book. Joseph Konrad uses the insanity of Kurtz to illustrate the complex meaning of the jungle and civilization. As Marlow is taken through this adventure, he is the key to finding the genuine purpose of Africa, as he poses as light fighting its way out of the Darkness. He encounters, on many occasions, the evil within the many forces which makes the "New Africa". Though it takes deep and concentrated thought to comprehend the real meaning of the events shown throughout the book, it thoroughly expresses the madness within the Jungle, Kurtz, and the Darkness.

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Summary: Darkness Within
Review: The novel Heart of Darkness invoked an unusual perspective to civilization through the eyes of the main character Marlow. Marlow experiences all the evils and greed humanity has to offer in a journey down into the impassable darkness, Africa. This darkness Marlow comes to terms with is what many of his colleagues are blind to. He sees that darkness, savageness, and futility exist in all of mankind. The façade of Western Europe civilizing is torn down as the men become surrounded by the harsh jungles of Africa. With the jungle outnumbering the men, their character reverts back to the beginning before men had the luxuries of society. The line between the natives and the sailors is all but lost except for their history. Other than that, at the end of the novel the reader comes away with Conrad's view that there is no real difference to us and the people we call savages.
The full meaning of the novel does not become known until the beacon of light, Mr. Kurtz, becomes immersed into the evil of the African people he originally tried to change and civilize. The book exposes the evil plunders of the exploration being done in Africa. The greed of ivory and how it consumes the very heart of Mr. Kurtz, becomes more and more evident has Marlow begins to hear Kurtz's views on the world. Joseph Conrad does show a slightly optimistic side, through the last words spoken by Mr. Kurtz, "the horror." Conrad shows that at least humanity realizes their iniquity before they are lost forever.
The novel affects people in different ways and I would recommend it to anybody who is willing to give the novel the thought and consideration it deserves.



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Summary: Heart of Darkness: Movie vs. Novel
Review: The movie Heart of Darkness is something that should be viewed after reading the novel first. The film would present a far too intricate and perplexing insight for someone to understand prior to reading the book. For the most part, when people watch movies then they figure that it's the same as reading the book, but in all actuality, the experience is entirely different. If you had watched the movie preceding reading the novel then you would miss out on the reason why the book is so legendary. There are many underlying implications that you can't acquire from watching a mere movie.
For instance, at the beginning of every chapter, Joseph Conrad sets the scene for us. He is very detailed when he does this and it literally brings us into the novel. You can't obtain experiences like this from a motion picture, especially one that contradicts the book in so many ways. The novel makes it clear that this is Marlow telling the story and he is speaking in first person, yet in the movie Marlow is just a main character among others. I can see where the filmmakers tried to imply that it was Marlow's story with the movie's beginning and ending where he presented a pair of monologues about his experience. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the original introduction and conclusion to the story would have appeared far superior.
Watching the movie was even as though I was viewing a completely other version of the world renowned Heart of Darkness. The only assistance I obtained from watching the movie was an illustration of what the atmosphere was like in Africa. I had trouble identifying that particular aspect in the novel. Other than that feature, I would have been just as well off reading only the novel. Consequently, the film would be a good visual aide if you are having difficulty understanding the book, but it's not expected to be seen as an alternative option to reading the novel.