this be the first and as far a i can tell and the only completed production of heart of darkness ever release . prior to start on citizen kane and orson welles shoot some test footage for a version of heart of darkness that be to be film entirely in what would now be call pov and where we would see everything from the point of view of the main character charlie marlow while he would be see only fleetingly in mirror and window and water and etc . the film be never make . the pov technique be use and not too successfully and in 1947 in the lady in the lake and with robert montgomery starring a philip marlowe . presumably and the coincidence of the two marlow ( e ) character be just that . of course and francis coppola apocalypse now be base on heart of darkness . the short novel heart of darkness by the polish born british writer joseph conrad and first serialize in a british literary magazine in 1899 and feature one of his favorite alter ego and ship captain charlie marlow and who also narrate the short story youth and indirectly tell the story of lord jim . marlow and temporarily out of work and decide to take a job captain a river boat for a belgian company involve in the brutal exploitation of the resource of king leopold ii personal fiefdom and the cruelly misname congo free state . marlow travel from london to brussels and sign on with the company and and be tell that his mission be to take a boat up the congo river to a far inland station head by one of the company most productive agent in the colony and a german name kurtz . shipment of ivory and latex ( for the production of rubber ) and other product from kurtz station have cease and and no word have come downriver from kurtz for some time . there be rumor that he have go native . marlow be to investigate and take any necessary action and and make a report on his return . he take passage down the west african coast to the mouth of the congo and be delay for week while he be force to repair his boat at the company station on the coast and and finally set out upriver to find kurtz station . the river and the heat and the vegetation and the wildlife and the insect and the people and all take their toll on his endurance and his imagination and and his mental resource . he find kurtz ill and half mad and and close to death . the final encounter and the death of kurtz be almost an anticlimax and especially since conrad be so obscure about what actually happen that we be leave to puzzle it out for ourselves . this be a novel where you close the book vaguely dissatisfy with the end but nevertheless treasure the story for it amazing atmospherics . this heart of darkness be film with guyana in central america standing in for west africa . it be best where the novel be at it great disadvantage represent actually show u first world urbanites what a boat trip up a tropical river would look like . but the rest of the film be forgettable . tim roth do his best a marlow and but so much about the plot and characterization and and character relationship have be alter beyond recognition that you wonder why they bother . if the aim be to make conrad story for the screen and why do not they leave it alone . it unreasonable to expect that no compromise will be make when a book be make into a movie and but so many change be make that to me have no cinematic justification that you wonder whether we be simply deal with incompetent screenwriter and cinematographer . most disappointing of all be john malkovich a kurtz . he be completely miscast and simply flub the role . everything about him be wrong represent his look and his acting style and his voice and his accent and everything . a vastly good choice would have be someone like bruno ganz ( unlike malkovich and an actual german and like the character ) . this be a very disappointing production and i would recommend it only after you have read the book if you want to depend on more than your imagination to get a visual picture of a boat trip up the congo river circa 1900 .