Heart of Darkness Scene
Scene Clip # 1 Kurtz Monologue
This is the scene in which the audience and Willard (Marlow) first meet the infamous Kurtz. Like the book the movie puts us in a state of darkness. Kurtz appears from the shadows and we are immediately fixated on him and the darkness around him. The book refers to him as a Shadow and the movie offers us just a voice calling to us and a creepy, silhouette between the darkness and the shadows. In both the book and the movie we can not see Kurtz fully; all we have to distinguish him is the calling voice. It is that voice that draws both Willard/Marlow and the audience in. This is great because both Willard/Marlow and the audience/reader have nothing visually to grasp yet all senses are alerted and intrigued. In both we are forced to think of Kurtz in the supernatural; think of Kurtz shadow with dimension to him. Despite all the details we’ve been given Kurtz is still unknown to us, he still appears unreal. Both the movie and the book keep this image of the unknown/unreal going and we, the audience and main character, must look for our own image to the voice and for that we have to look within and find the Kurtz inside. The point of both medias is to have the audience connect with the story; think of the phrase we read/watch TV to find out who we are. This image works well to display that concept both in the book and the movie because it allows us to connect with the work itself and accept the darkness and the shadows not only in the story/plot but in us.
