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Heart of Darkness (1993)
Good made for T.V. movie.
Heart of Darkness, directed by Nicolas Roeg, is an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's tale of ivory hunting in the African jungle. Heart of Darkness was a made for T.V. film, airing on March 13, 1994 on TNT (Turner Network Television). Auteur theorists analyzing previous Roeg films may agree that this T.V. adaptation does not hold the same attributes. One may argue that it was made for television, which would place guidelines on how much Roeg could express his autuerist style. Others may believe that Roeg' style is still at work within Heart of Darkness, even though it follows the Hollywood narrative. This film analysis will argue the Roeg elements are still at work. The film begins with extreme close ups of an elephants body. Next we see Marlow (Tim Roth) explaining his expedition of the African Jungle to a group of rich British men. From there, the film cuts to a large library or museum where we see two women in black, almost identical, sitting in the front entrance of an office. Marlow, in a voice over, begins to become uneasy with the women's presence. He makes comments to himself regarding a conspiracy and the women were warning him of something. If one has seen Don't Look Now (1973) they can make a predisposition toward the two women in black and the psychic sisters. Marlow had ambiguities toward the two women, just as John (Donald Sutherland) had toward the sisters, which predicted his outcome (death). Marlow on the other hand assumed danger from the two women and danger is exactly what he found in the Congo. As the film continues we see an aborigine standing outside of a window looking in at Marlow. We later find out that he committed suicide or was speared in the chest by an unruly army headed by Kurtz (John Malkovich). In Walkabout (1971) we see the young aborigine looking into the house at the white girl. In both films the aborigine's are looking into the white man's world. Unfortunately they find the white man's world can be destructive and greedy, as seen in the Kurtz controlled outlandish army. They steal young boys and barter them for supplies. Three young boys are abducted from the camp site, one boy is killed and the others are returned for supplies.
Previous to the abduction, we see random shots of a boy with an ivory necklace. We later see the necklace lying near where the boy had been sleeping. Immediately following the abduction is a dream sequence which Marlow sees a dead elephant, stripped of its' tusks, lying alongside a trail. Maggots are seen as the camera moves in for a close up. Juxtaposed with the elephant are the identical women and finally a claw tool. This sequence expresses the dangers associated with the Congo, not only on the explorers but aborigines and animals. These sequences are Roegian for its' underlying themes. What do two women, an elephant and a claw have to do with a journey in the Congo? The elephant is clearly associated with ivory and greed. The women mean a clear and present danger in the Congo. The claw depicts violence and is later seen sitting in Kurtz's hut. In one shot we see Mfumu looking into the water where it appears blood is floating on the surface, foreshadowing his own death. After he is speared Marlow throws his body overboard and blood floats atop the surface again. Roeg does not hold back on the grotesqueness within Heart of Darkness. In one scene we see another explorer repeatedly kicking and striking a black man. After Mfumu is speared, Marlow pulls on the spear and blood explodes from the chest. Surprisingly T.V. allowed this scene as well as a few others. Moments later Marlow and his guides enter Kurtz's village where there is a young boy covered in blood and tied to a tree. There are also boys' heads on stakes and on branches in trees. More boys are taken from the crew and traded, and one is killed. Kurtz's makes his appearance in the final 20 minutes of the film. He appears to be a god to the aborigine army. He is quite crazy and slowly dies away in a most unusual and unauthentic way. He is buried in an upright position and is draped in white cloth. There appears to be some sort of metal attachments from his upper body to his arms to keep them out in front of him. I am not sure what Roeg was getting at with this, but it may have to do with Kurtz being crazy and having instilled his own ideologies to the army. There is one theme in which is unusual. There is an aborigine woman that closely resembles Kurtz's white wife. The black beauty is framed with Kurtz's wife's painting. The black beauty appears to have some sort of skin ailment or body paint. Maybe Kurtz has put her up to painting or brandishing herself to slightly resemble his wife back in Britain. At the end of the film Marlow approaches the widow and tells her of Kurtz's last moments. This scene seems so out of place. The black and white woman reflecting each other in some sort of weird African fantasy makes sense, but Marlow actually going to see the widow has no real premise. It does appear Roeg intentionally mirrored Kurtz's loves, but the widow scene seemed so hurried. That did not at all seem Roegish. Finally the end montage near Kurtz's death is the most Roegistic style in the whole film. Roeg compiles every theme into about one minute of juxtaposed images containing Mfumu's death and the spear exiting his chest in slow motion. The elephant's rotting carcass, the two women being seen again, the ivory necklace and young boys are also shown again. Random shots of Kurtz's masked army are installed. The black and white women are repeated. Heart of Darkness is much so a Roeg film only with a T.V. limit.
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Very good Nicolas Roeg film.
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a science fiction film, but what elements make the film fall under the sci-fi genre and how does Roeg install his auteurist style within a presumably unknown genre to his previous works. The title itself gives the film a spacey feeling. Questioning us as the viewer how did he get into space, where is he coming from if from anywhere? Maybe earth is a nostalgic place for him. Or maybe his spaceship has lost course and fell to earth. There could be numerous questions and answers behind the reasoning for his fall to earth. The only reasonable conclusion we can associate to his presence on earth is water, but how come he drinks so much liqueur? Does it make Newton (David Bowie) try to forget his past life?
At the start of the film we see what appears to be a comet entering earth's orbit. Suddenly this UFO crashes into a lake in New Mexico. New Mexico is a hot spot for alien sightings and UFOs furthering are curiosity as to whom or what Newton is. Newton eventually ends up in New York City and hires Oliver Farnsworth, a lawyer, to be in charge of a new technology company, World Enterprises. We see the blueprints and calculations for some sort of new camera. We learn this when Professor Nathan Bryce (Rip Torn) and one of his female partners are fooling around with the camera and a logo for World Ent. is revealed. Professor Bryce is a chemist and is later hired by Newton to conduct experiments relating to a space program.
Newton's World Enterprises becomes a very powerful corporation. He moves back to a hotel in New Mexico and meets a woman Mary Lou. (Candy Clark) He becomes a shut in at this point. He `alienates' himself from the rest of the world and sits and watches television. He appears to be a captain in a space station watching over earth, waiting for his moment to reveal himself. Mary Lou asks him if he is hiding out. He denies the accusation, but in reality he is hiding. He makes attempts to assimilate with society by going to church with Mary Lou. It is hopeless. He continues to alienate himself further by building a home on the lake where he arrived. Newton's corporation begins to grow as does his in home space station.
Professor Bryce is hired to work on a spaceship for Newton. Bryce being from Chicago leaves his teaching position to move to New Mexico and begin his experiments. With Roeg's work we see doubling of characters. Newton sets up Bryce in a home across the lake. We see Mary Lou inspecting a piece of Newton's skin under a microscope. Next she is surprised to get a telescope to further her curiosities of Newton. Bryce on the other side of the lake has set up some sort of high tech x-ray device, in his home, to probe Newton on the first visit. Both Mary Lou and Bryce are looking into Newton using some sort of scientific technology, probing him, trying to learn more about this alien. Oddly enough they are the only two people in the film that try to understand him and know that he is an alien before anyone else. To further Roeg's auteurist conception of doubling, they both turn their back on him and begin their own relationship.
Another concept of doubling would be earth's trains compared to Newton's planet and the transport his family uses to get around. Mary Lou speaks of past train rides. Newton has many flashbacks to his home planet and his means of transportation. Newton has a few close moments with Professor Bryce. There first meeting prior to the probing Newton introduces Bryce to the facility which houses the spaceship energy ball. The spaceship makes Bryce curious. After he establishes the curiosity toward Newton there is a moment of hesitation, the fantastic. The moment Bryce gets his x-ray picture developed, hesitation shifts to the uncanny, challenging scientific laws (Telotte).
Mary Lou has her own moments of hesitation toward Newton. Newton and Mary Lou are at their lake home when Mary Lou begins screaming at him and in her haste calls him an alien. This drives Newton to remove the contacts from his eyes and allow his pasty body to come forth. At first sight of Newton's true body Mary Lou loses her composure and is in a state of the uncanny (Telotte). After a few moments of shock the uncanny shifts towards an understanding. Bryce also comes to terms with Newton's true self as they meet in the middle of the desert and speak as friends. Ultimately Mary Lou and Bryce end up not truly understanding him and turn their back on him and let him be subjected to scientist's probing on a different level. The scientist's probing is more calculated and physical compared to Mary Lou and Professor Bryce's emotional probing. The scientists take down notes and use tools to try to understand Newton. The tests resemble an alien autopsy in a way. The all white rooms with doctors and nurses dressed in white. The operating rooms in which they test Newton resemble a test area for astronauts. There is the gravity test. The film incorporates the corporate structure which we see within many sci-fi flicks. World Enterprises is a multi-billion dollar industry that focuses on innovation and moving forward. The corporation promotes recycling of materials. One may argue that World Ent. is Newton's plan to help save earth from destruction like his own? The corporation eventually gets probed by the CIA or FBI curious about how and why World Enterprises has become such a wealthy corporation and who is Newton. The CIA eventually begins violent attempts to bring down the corporation.
The film portrays sex as a violent, as we have seen in previous Roeg films. First there is Professor Bryce and his student struggling with camera and than having sex. Next we see Newton and Mary Lou playing with a gun during sex. Violence in sci-fi corporate films is usually the norm. Roeg instills different types of genres into The Man Who Fell to Earth. He uses the erotic thriller and melodrama to heighten the enjoyment of the film.