We Were Wanderers on a Prehistoric Earth: A Short Film Inspired by Joseph Conrad
We Were Wanderers on a Prehistoric Earth is a short film inspired by Joseph Conrads masterpiece, Heart Of Darkness, was made for the Malaysian Tourism Authority and is an ode to the beautiful fauna and flora of the region. The title for the film is taken from the book;
“We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth,’on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. We could have fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance, to be subdued at the cost of profound anguish and of excessive toil.”
The narration in the film is from Marlowe’s (the hero of Heart of Darkness) description of travelling up the Congo into the heart of darkness after Kurtz (the story was of course central to Coppola’s epic masterpiece, ‘Apocalypse Now’). The narration has such gravitas, such power, the words sing out with a poetic sense of wonder for a natural world that is no longer frightening, no longer in need of being subdued:
The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks, branches, leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to topple over the creek, to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence. And it moved not.
The film was made by James Griffiths, cinematography was by Christopher Moon with music from Lennert Busch, sound design by Mauricio d’Orey and last but not least Conrad’s words are spoken by Terry Burns.
179 total views, 1 today
