Original subtitles

It was one of the dark places of the earth.

The vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human

conscience and geographical exploration.

Just bones, death, and ivory.

Oh, that's just the merry dance of death and trade.

The company's business in the Congo was not dissimilar from any progressive

civilization at any other time.

I was thinking of when the Romans first came to Britain.

Wasn't much here then.

Sandbanks, marshes, forests, and savages.

A brave lot they must have been.

Romans were conquerors.

For that all you need is brute force.

Nothing to boast about.

They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what was to be got.

There's a lawyer, Mr. Linder.

I'm sure you'll agree.

It's just robbery with violence.

Aggravated murder on a great scale.

The conquest of the earth mostly means the taking it away from those with

different skin tone.

Slightly flatter noses than ourselves.

Not a pretty thing when you look into it too deeply.

I'm in no mood for one of your sermons, Marlow.

That is not why we've come to see you.

Where are they?

Kurtz's papers.

Mr. Kurtz's private papers have been safely in my keeping since I returned

from Africa.

As your accountant knows, your lawyer knows, and you yourself must know better

than either of them.

You've been sending emissaries to me for all these eight years, some more

threatening than others.

And you should know I have no intention of reopening that file.

I've shown you everything I felt you needed to see.

So, you do call it a file?

Now, you listen to me, Marlowe.

The company has a right to every bit of information in those documents.

You have no right to hold on to whatever intelligence they may contain.

There is nothing in those documents that could be of any interest to the company.

I don't think... We, not you, are in a position to be the better judges of

that. We have a right to every bit of information that he may have gathered.

We're talking about a man of extraordinary ability.

As you must know.

You were the last person to speak to him.

He gave you the documents.

No, he did not give me the documents.

What I'm interested in is the extensive and undoubtedly scientific knowledge

of unexplored regions in the heart of the territory.

Mr. Kurtz's knowledge was extensive.

Yes.

It concerned itself with largely unexplored regions.

I'll grant you, it does not bear upon problems of either commerce or

administration.

You shouldn't describe it as scientific, either.

Philosophic, perhaps.

The effect his knowledge had on me will last as long as I live.

To understand that effect, gentlemen, you should know how I went up that river

to a dark place.

Now we're all perfectly aware that you went in there, Martin.

We're all so perfectly aware that you return.

Mr. Curtis did not.

Return, you say?

Did I return?

Indeed, you are mistaken, Mr. Yeager, to believe that as unquestioningly as you

do.

Ah, yes, Marlow.

You did return.

And the proof will no doubt reveal itself in your story.

You're preparing to spin a seaman's yarn for us, are you not?

No, not a seaman's yarn, Mr. Yeager.

I was a seaman.

when I was given the assignment you have been referring to.

But it was a freshwater assignation.

Still, I was exultant.

I didn't realize I was not merely headed for the farthest point of navigation,

but also the culminating point of my experience.

Although I think I sensed I was going into a place of darkness.

A hollow atmosphere, devoid of feeling, seemed to pervade.

Were the two women who sat there like guardians of the inner chamber, warning

me of something?

Their black dresses had a somber and pitiful look.

Not extraordinary in any way, but sad.

As though they were in mourning.

I felt uneasy.

It was just as though I'd been let into some sort of conspiracy.

I don't know.

Something not quite right.

Captain Marlowe.

This must be where the Jolly Pioneers drink Jolly Lager beer.

Looks rather like a snake, don't you think?

The river, I mean.

The Director will see you now, Captain Marlowe.

We will entitle some trade secrets where you are going, which you hereby

undertake not to reveal.

You mean I'm never to reveal the true purpose of my mission there?

To find out just exactly what this man Kurtz is up to?

Of course, I'll never reveal that to anyone.

What would I tell?

Have you been there?

I'm not such a fool as I look.

You suggesting I'm a fool?

There is one last mere formality.

The doctor would like to see you.

Au revoir, mon capitaine.

Bon voyage.

I see.

You're the replacement.

Yes. So you're going there.

Interesting.

I always ask leave, in the interest of science, to measure the crania of all

those going there.

And do they change?

The crania? Have you noticed when they return?

Oh, I never see them, if they come back.

Besides, the changes take place, you know, inside.

Pardon my question, but... Is there any madness in your family?

Madness?

I'm a seaman doctor.

Freshwater duty may seem a paradox to a seaman, but madness, no.

Are you an investigator of men's spiritual disorders?

As well as their bodies? Every doctor should be.

A little.

Don't you think?

I haven't the slightest idea.

I'm the captain of a riverboat.

As of this morning, not a scientist.

Certainly not a spiritualist.

My duty, as our director put it, will consist of taking charge of what, I can

only imagine, will be nothing more than a tupny, hate-mean riverboat.

Take her upriver as far as she'll go, cover her up with as much ivory as

she'll hold, and bring her back to the seacoast. I have one recommendation,

Captain Marlowe.

Passion is riskier than exposure to the sun.

You can.

You can.

Not very inviting, is it?

Although perhaps this is the sort of place beckons men like yourself.

The world beckons men such as myself. Off with you!

Captain Fennar.

That part of the world which is unknown at any rate.

Oh, yes, I see.

You remind me of another of you chaps I brought in here a few years ago.

Move away from the boat.

Kurtz? Was his name Kurtz?

Kurtz. Yes, yes, I think it was.

Go on, move away from the boat.

Clear the way. You're hitting the boat.

I told you no one wants in here.

Coming here on some sort of assignment?

Days is full of government, chaps.

Clear off. Go on, clear out of our way.

Funny what some people will do for a few francs a month.

Yes, well, taking command of a riverboat at Stanley Pool for a few francs a

month. Get out of the way so we can get the boat in. Thank you.

You the Captain Marlowe?

Yes.

No, no, no.

You follow to there. We bring the baggage.

Take the bag.

Up there.

I say, you must be Marlowe.

Tell Commune. Jack Tell Commune.

I'm chief accountant here for the company.

I knew you'd be turning up.

When I saw you standing back there, I put two and two.

I thought I'd been deposited in some unknown penal colony.

For my sins.

Yes, well...

I just came out, you know, for a glass of fresh air.

Fresh air?

Please.

I have expected you, as I say, Captain Marlowe.

And I've taken the liberty to arrange the supply.

You will need to carry to the central station.

Mostly food, a few cases of good ammunition, medical comfort.

Ammunition? The bare minimum of bartering, trash, beads, you know, and

so forth.

The local currency.

If you see plenty of that rubbish, it's a central station.

I'm glad I can be of some use.

I've been teaching that one some of our customs.

Not very facile.

She has a distaste for work.

The stations upriver have been isolated for too long.

And some, like Monsieur Court Station, have been utterly cut off.

That seems completely out of touch.

You mean you haven't had too many shipments of ivory?

None.

There are rumors about him.

That he has changed.

That he has guarded a mountain of ivory. I have even heard that.

But no.

There are always too many rumors one must not listen to.

Rumors.

One begins to go, you know, a little foolish with rumors.

That's right, monsieur.

You mustn't let rumors go to one's head, must one?

Don't want the doctor swooping down on you with skull-measuring tongs.

There's only one reason you haven't got your goods, monsieur.

The boat that carries the ivory has no captain.

What happened to him?

Do you know?

The last captain of the boat?

Oh, he died.

He became quite eccentric, I would say.

An adventurous man.

But he took too many risks.

Or some other local malady?

Yes, well, now I'm here.

You shall have your ivory, and the stations shall have their relief.

Yes, well, I have gathered some 20 men, as I say, for the march to Stonelepool.

That's where your steamboat is.

Lois des Bages.

You think 20 men will suffice?

We are all quite, quite safe here in Matadi, you know.

I'm not at all sure about the inner stations.

Not at all sure.

Yes, thank you. Please show.

Haru.

I intend company agent Gustave Haru will accompany you.

What's your name?

I'm called Mfumu, Captain.

And Monsieur Delcamune has assigned you to look after me?

No, no. C'est moi qui ai demandé de le faire.

I ask.

And have you gathered together all the other carriers?

Yes, Capitaine.

We go in morning light.

Demain. Tomorrow.

Do you think it might be possible to get some hot water for that tin bath?

Who is he? How should I know?

He's sick.

Dying, I expect.

They brought him in from one of the stations.

Nobody knew where he's been.

He's been groaning that way for hours.

It distracts my attention, making it extremely difficult to guard against

clerical errors.

Everything is satisfactory, I trust, with your carriers?

Yes. Nafumu seems to be a quite competent fellow.

Nafumu? Ah, bon.

Oh, Mfumu's a good chef.

Enterprising.

Monsieur Court trains the man himself, you know, as a boilerman on one of his

expeditions up there in the wild.

Mfumu's a cannibal, he said, but a decent fellow.

Help yourself to an aperitif, Captain.

Did you say Mfumu's a cannibal? Speak to me.

Please serve yourself, Captain. I don't drink.

Where's he from?

The innermost station.

True ivory country.

As much ivory as all the rest put together.

But no more.

Nothing.

Nothing from anyone.

That man can't even talk anymore.

Will he die?

No, not yet.

They bring all the sick men down here. They don't like to bury white men in the

wild.

I tell you, if one has to do what I must do, make correct entries when it comes

to aid those savages out there.

I don't think the council in Europe is aware that we're engaged in the

employment of cannibals, do you?

If Mofumu is what you say he is.

I didn't say.

Kurtz told me.

Fund of long pig I think was how he put it

Captain,

we stay here two hours.

C'est votre tante, monsieur?

Yes, yes, take it on.

Capitaine, finalement.

Yes, Zaria Maru.

Gustavaru, I'm waiting for coming with you.

Good day, Capitaine.

I respond to the spend of my sleep in my tante.

To be, uh, habituated, no?

Now I can go.

It's

for

the train, sir. The king's train.

Futambu Latii, Fuku Kwea.

Where are the people?

People go in this place. I think this is a good place to camp the night, yes?

Everybody is feeling like home, no?

Look what they leave here.

These barbarians.

His Majesty King Leopold.

Lamentable.

God forsaken place.

Poison place.

You three will sleep here.

Everything is poison.

Why did you come here, Monsieur Heroux? That's how you feel?

To make money, you fool. What do you think?

Boys, be still.

I cover you. You're safe here. No one sees.

I believe.

but we all came here for no

Ivory.

What we all came here for, no?

Ivoire, mon capitaine.

Captain.

Captain. Captain.

Captain.

What is it, Mifumu?

They took the boys.

They took them away.

Who took the boys?

People in there, regard us.

They regard us carry supplies.

Boys were afraid.

First time they work for the company.

See, people think they good for trading.

People take them to exchange for supplies.

You mean someone's following us?

And they took the boys and the supplies they were carrying?

No, you give the supplies to people, then they give you boys to carry again.

What, you mean beads?

What happens if I say no?

Is that enough for a good

trade, Mifumu?

Tell him I said no more.

You hear?

What do you mean to say you gave a complete package?

For three boys, you gave a complete package of supplies.

Where's the other one?

No more.

What do you mean, no more?

Did they kill him?

Did they kill the boy?

They killed him.

For God's sake, we gave them enough bar to defeat a bloody village for an entire

year. You're saying they didn't think it enough and they killed the boy just to

make a point?

Who are these people?

Different people.

People watch.

Everywhere they watch.

They're just hunters.

They hunt.

It's good to tell you it is good. Well, not him, but his emissaries. It is his

method.

This has nothing to do with Kurtz.

This is older.

Much... much older.

Come on, come on.

Hello! Hello!

Captain Marlow! Captain Marlow, welcome!

We are waiting for you, alive, at last!

This is my steamer.

Oh, yes.

But it's down there. It's under the water.

Oh, yes.

Do you understand what I'm saying? My boat has sunk.

Oh, yes, but it's quite all right. It's quite all right.

No, it's not a bit all right.

Just look, God knows how many miles for the African wasteland, and you seriously

expect me to agree with you that it's all quite all right? Oh, yes.

You see, the manager himself was there. It was very correct. Everybody behaved

splendidly. Everybody behaved splendidly. Yes. Oh, yes.

Accompanying manager. Can you take me to him? Oh, he goes very well. Thank you.

You must see him now.

General manager.

He waits for you. Over there. Please. Over there.

Captain Marlow, sir.

Yes, I heard the commotion.

Welcome to Stanley Pool, Captain.

My name is, uh, Goss.

John Gabriel.

Commotion.

My dear sir, if there was a commotion here, it took place before I arrived.

What you heard was exasperation.

Here I come to you, a sailor assigned to skipper a steamboat in the heart of the

Congo. How, pray, would you suggest I perform my duty when the steamer lies

precisely where I've been hired to assure that it never ends up? The bottom

of the river.

We've been facing a very grave situation here, Captain Marlowe.

Very grave.

I have no idea what delayed your arrival here, but... Delayed?

I've been traveling without interruption. We had to start, I tell

you. We had to start, even without you.

It's a matter of relieving stations, Mount River.

One station in particular.

I'm not sure I perceive an air of urgency here,

Monsieur Gosse.

A weakness, no doubt, in my powers of observation.

It is our most important station, Captain Marlowe.

There have been rumors now for quite some time that it is in jeopardy.

There have been rumors, as I say, for quite some time that the station in

question is at risk.

That the agent in charge is... Gravely ill.

All of which may be very, very uneasy.

He is the best agent that we have. He is of the greatest importance to the

company. You must be referring to Mr. Kurtz.

I've heard no other name since I first set foot on African soil.

A matter of extreme importance.

The utmost importance.

So you decided to skipper the boat yourself?

Off to the rescue?

Didn't get very far, did you?

Thank you.

He wants an African pirogue.

Good arm, huh?

Hey, Mr. Coates.

Mr. Coates tells Mfumu, stay, we don't need a boiler.

My Mfumu likes to work in this.

Likes it?

Well, soon you'll have a chance to show that fellow just how well your boiler

works, Mfumu.

We're going very far huh?

In there?

The innermost station.

Think you lost your wager?

I'm losing everything.

I'm losing everything.

What supplies?

Bits. Supplies. All dry.

Silly Kerr started the fire.

All the bloody barter was in.

There'll be not much left to exchange for ivory.

Pitiless. One has to have absolutely no pity, see?

It's really the only way.

There'll be no more fires.

I'll wage a half a year's salary on it.

De Grief, Alphonse.

Perhaps I oughtn't to wager anything right now.

Not with Captain Marlowe at any rate.

Good show, so far.

You care

for a drink?

They have a name for it. Medical Comforts.

Salut.

Kurtz painted that.

Right here in this room.

It is, he told me, his fiancée in Europe.

Here. Did you know the man?

Oh, yes.

He is the chief of the inner station.

Yes, yes.

I know his position.

Chief of the inner station. What I asked was... Kurtz is a prodigy.

I mean that quite seriously.

An illuminated man.

There are no men like him here.

He is special.

As I think you know very well.

What makes you think I know anything at all about Mr. Kurtz?

The same people who sent him also sent you.

You belong to the new gang.

The moral gang.

Both of you.

I've seen the evidence.

Don't say no.

Kurtz is the ethical genius of your new band.

Spreads virtue and culture wherever he goes.

The blazing comet of shining goodwill.

The lily-white protector of the dark hordes.

This is not to say that I have any apprehensions about him.

I have never been haunted by the fear of God.

Or the devil.

let alone of a man.

I tell you they're alike, those two.

A plague on them both.

Marlow, you mean?

No.

He's ignorant.

He doesn't even know the man.

After all, he's been festering in there, in the heart of the jungle, protected by

his savages. Yes, yes, I know.

But he'll fail.

Fail.

You hear?

He's sick.

He's dying, in fact.

If Marlow ever gets that, he'll find only death and disease.

How do you know he's sick?

Hesh.

Hesh told me.

And he begged to be taken back to Matadi.

How would he know?

Well, his carriers told him.

The white god is ill, they said.

White god?

Imagine that.

Sick white god.

I tell you, men who come out here should have no entrails.

Put all that upon himself.

No one asked him to go back in there after he'd brought down his last ship,

but certainly not in that dugout canoe with his men, as he called those

savages, paddling it.

Scoundrel. Why me?

No one's even seen the man for nine months.

Well, you can stand the climate, Alphonse.

You've outlasted them all.

So far.

You know, I think that you should be trading in there instead of that

pestilential fellow.

You think so?

Manage the inner station, huh?

Well, you wouldn't go around preaching that each station should be a beacon on

the road to better things.

Conceive you, mad ass.

Take Verum along with you. And Haru.

He's a good idea.

Ah, good stuff.

Cast off!

Let go of that line!

Thank you for all your help.

Thank you.

Yarafine, Ijigi,

Ibitasilafle,

Ibijifle, Iyalaka, Ikabewa.

Ibraframu, Iwa,

Kambeng.

What is that?

This?

This is my enemy.

I killed him.

He was a strong enemy.

Maintenant, il me protège.

I see.

So he was your enemy and you killed him and now he's protecting you?

Mm-hmm.

I see.

Thank you.

Ivory.

Captain Marlowe.

Ivoire.

There may be some ivory here.

We aren't even near the boundaries of the inner station.

This is not Kurt's territory yet.

I'm not sure, Monsieur de Grief, that King Leopold regards any of his property

as the exclusive territory of any one company agent.

You are quite right, Captain, of course.

But that is not how this particular agent, Mr. Kurtz, regards the situation.

As you will see.

Care to show me, Alphonse, on the shore?

No.

What about you, Captain?

No.

Not too many trinkets, do you hear?

Beads, cotton, and so forth.

Not much left after the fire, huh?

What about the interstation?

He rubbed all the ivory.

All of it. That's what.

Exact as Monsieur Goss predicts. No?

It's fine.

You seem to have planted a seed in the poor fellow's head.

Weeds are proliferating.

I believe he credited Monsieur Goss with prophecy.

Not me, Captain Marlowe.

Yes, but it was you that said that Mr.

Kurtz would make good the prophecy

It's alright, it's alright.

Not cooked.

Just boiled.

My enemy.

Been laughing at me.

Adieu!

You sure that's a good idea?

Why all the noise, Mifumu?

Why are the men frightened?

The river's slow, Captain.

Too slow.

Very dangerous.

The river isn't making the noise, Mifumu.

The forest is.

Hungry, Captain.

Là-bas, everybody's hungry.

Partout, c'est la fin.

I go look at the bio.

No.

Let's not waste any wood.

It'll be dark soon.

How far to the interstation?

I don't like the way these inhuman brutes are behaving.

Which inhuman brutes are you referring to, Degrief?

The ones in the jungle?

Well, they sound hungry.

Did you know these men here were cannibals once?

There may still be cannibals.

You shouldn't worry about it, though.

We're not a very appetizing lot.

Drop the anchor, Mifumu.

He's afraid.

Another enemy, Mifumu?

Many enemies.

Many.

Captain?

He is coming, Captain.

He's coming to look.

Who's coming?

Who's coming, Mifumu?

I don't know, Captain.

I don't know. But we are not welcome here.

Get to the boiler, Mifumu.

To the boiler.

Yes, Capitaine. The boiler.

They see the boat, Captain.

Who? Who sees the boat?

You don't see them. They see you.

What is the meaning of this?

To the guns, quickly!

Mafumu, get someone to lift the anchor.

Catch him.

Catch him.

Capture all air.

Give them to us.

And if I gave them to you, what would you do?

Have someone raise the anchor.

We're going to pay Mr. Curse a visit whether he likes it or not.

Back in the wheelhouse.

They attack.

They attack us. Be quiet.

Oh, no. We are going to die.

Can you take the helm?

Kurtz is dead, Marlowe. They would not have attacked like this.

You must not risk the company. Boo! You must not risk the company's agents.

He is right, Captain Marlowe. The Greek. Take the wheel.

Go on.

Upriver, do you hear?

No idea whether Kurtz is alive or dead. Neither of you. Go back, Captain

Marlowe. Do not listen to that man. He is a spy of Rizogor. Go back before they

kill everybody. We're going to push on through, Mifumu. Keep that pressure up.

We're going to the interstation with or without Mr. Curtis.

Bless him.

I beg of you, Captain, in God's name, get us out of this hell.

Stay back.

Stay away. You don't touch him. You don't touch him.

Amen.

We must leave.

Captain Marlowe.

Back to the central station.

It is lost. Lost.

Kurtz is dead. All the ivory is gone.

It is finished here.

It is too dangerous to go in there.

Are you listening to me?

I am not listening to you.

Take the helm degree put us at the jetty

The harvest.

Everything.

I love beautiful.

I love beautiful.

We've been attacked.

Yes. Yes, I know. Yes, I... It's all right.

It's all right now, yes.

Everywhere.

Yes.

Where are the people here?

Oh, you know, he told me you would come.

One day he said to me, they will send a man here

who will stop what I'm doing.

Someone wise and crafty.

We'll meet with darkness in daytime.

What are you battling about?

Never mind, never mind.

I'm glad.

Yes.

What happened here?

He will come.

He knows you're here.

He told you I was coming?

You talk with him?

You don't talk to that man. You listen to him. You are a sailor.

It is a normal.

I am a sailor, too. Yes, Russian sailor. Yes.

My father, he was archpriest in Tambov.

Yes. Wish me to be a priest, too. I did not wish that. I am a sailor like

yourself. Yes.

Yes, I am a sailor, but I choose to go about alone.

Yes, that is the way I choose, alone.

Dangerous sometimes.

Tried to kill you?

What? Me?

The people here, Kurtz's people?

No. Why did he attack us?

They don't.

I want him to go.

Why

should

I take him away?

I'm here to collect the ivory and leaf supplies.

He doesn't want supplies. He does not need supplies.

No more glass bubbles.

No.

That is mine.

If he doesn't say the right thing to them now, we are all done for.

You are interfering with me.

You and your peddling notions do not interfere.

Captain Marlowe, this ivory belongs to the company.

That man says is not true.

Not true.

He could have us all killed.

Yes, he could have me killed.

I'm not dead.

I am here.

There's nothing to trade for, Ivory.

He has a lot of cartridges.

He has discovered lots of villages.

A lake, too.

You mean he's been raiding the country with these people here?

How?

They adore him.

What can you expect?

He came to them with thunder and lightning.

They'd never seen anything like it.

Yes, it could be very terrible.

You cannot judge him.

You cannot judge him.

As you judge an ordinary man.

No.

Why,

he's mad.

Long walk.

She is a memory.

A past with no history.

Like Africa.

She was intended to be my wife.

You're too close to it. You mustn't look at the picture in sections. A

hand, a candle. No.

A dress.

You might conclude that a painting is nothing more than a heap of smudges.

Guess at the painter before you study his picture.

Whose blood?

A friend's.

Your people killed him.

Muthumu. Was that his name, Muthumu?

I knew him.

An old lion.

You killed him.

No.

What he was becoming.

You.

Or afraid.

Yes.

The danger in this awful isolation is that it can result in

a despair of truth.

Are you afraid to die?

No.

I just think you've killed enough to be exempted. Is it your presumption that

you're going to save me? Is that why you were sent here?

I warn you that if you insist on seeing everything by means of the opinion of

others, what you will discover in yourself will be only the opinion of

others.

Think with your entrails as well as your brain.

It's the only way a man can rise to great heights.

By not knowing where his way may lead him.

You're lying.

No.

I'm speaking a truth.

Perhaps the only truth that exists in a place like this.

For men like us.

Their truth is larger.

Come here.

I know.

I've tasted it.

them we'll make a deal

Mr. Kurtz is waiting.

Be careful with that.

We haven't met before, have we?

No.

Je m'appelle Verne.

Do it.

Very happy.

An elegance, if not a revelation.

Well, for the boys' exchange, I will allow half the ivory to be shipped

back. Take it away quickly before I change my mind.

Yes.

Ambitious hunter of the contractors, Monsieur Van.

I made a black for white proposition.

Irresistible, don't you see?

Those boys are my carriers, Mr. Kurtz. Captain, happiness is to be found only

in victory.

In commerce as well as war.

Mr. Verm, he likes business.

What have you done with that boy?

What have you done?

What manner of sickness infects this place?

Do you know what you're doing?

Do I not?

Run, little man.

Hide.

Be off.

Go away from here.

Tungo.

You see, it has designs on everything.

It is an immeasurable assault on ordinary human understanding.

It blooms in mischief.

It invites you to dig down into yourself.

But it is dangerous to tear away the layers from our thoughts.

and look into the abyss of our true being.

What?

What, Captain Marlowe, have you truly loved?

Not just respected, but loved with every passion,

fear, hatred, joy.

Loved in a way that...

Only your soul can understand.

Alas, two souls dwell in my breast.

Long gone.

Neither good nor evil.

Dead.

The light, too, is dark in here.

Like darkness itself.

I look for the light of the stars, but they have none.

I had my books sent to me, but they too no longer shed light.

Written music no longer sings.

Colors no longer brighten.

my bill you see a desolate place for myself

like some kings and counselors of another world

your world god

intoxicated righteous irrelevant dead

don't you find it surprising and glorious

That the only things that remain of us, after all our strivings, carry the same

traces.

Ah, hyenas, smellers of death.

I was on the...

Threshold of great things

You're in

the center of abomination

I'm here.

Close to me.

All that you are now, have been, and hold dear,

is not really you.

Remember?

There is no more empty and

detestable creature in

nature than a man who...

away from his team.

It's the course.

He's dead.

Captain Marlowe!

Captain Marlowe!

It's time to go.

It's all finished, Anna.

I will go away.

What we do, I regret, Captain.

I must go.

You know, he enlarged my mind.

And I will never, ever again meet the man.

Well, untie that.

You, untie that.

But there must be millions here.

Millions, I tell you. Look at all of that.

The fortune!

Untie that bodge, you miserable swine.

Now.

Bye.

His report was not a report on anything beside his own thoughts.

Notes on music.

Politics.

Some angry philosophical explorations.

Poems.

Drawings. Rather beautiful drawings.

Kurtz was an artist.

At war with every aspect of the life he knew.

With every new violation, he increased the fury of his attack.

Was there nothing about the company?

Not a word about the operation.

Nothing about the company, no.

I have no idea what impulse drove me to it.

But when I returned, I went to see her.

The woman in the paintings?

His intended wife?

She was still in mourning.

It was more than a year since his death, but it seemed as though she would always

remember and mourn forever.

She had a great capacity for belief, for fidelity.

She carried her sorrowful beauty as though she were saying, I alone know how

to mourn for him as he deserves.

I've lived so long in silence, I can't help feeling his loneliness.

Nobody near him to understand.

No one to hear him as I could.

And did.

You were there, Captain Marlowe, when he died.

Did you hear him speak?

I did on several occasions.

Listened to him as he spoke.

You were present when he died.

I was nearby.

I'm not sure anyone is ever present in another's death, ma'am.

Were you near enough to have heard his last words, Captain Marlowe?

His last words, ma'am?

The reason I came to see you.

His last words told me how to find you.

His last words gave me your name.

is no more empty nor detestable

creature in nature than

the man who runs away

from his demon.