My adaptation of Conrad's Heart of Darkness titled, Trapped in Exploitation, takes place in Romania during the early 21st century and centers around Kostya, a man who works as a truck driver to pay off his past loans to an underground corporation called The Sudajes. Kostya, accompanied by several members of the Sudajes, is instructed to drive a specialized pick-up truck to a city in the Ukraine and haul heavy packages back to Romania. However, once Kostya reaches his destination, he is given strict orders to remain inside the truck while the members of The Sudajes tend to the boarding of the packages.
Kostya spots the arrival of an all-white cargo van. He observes that it is a two-seater lacking back windows and a front license plate, all of which induce the sketchiness of the situation. “What have I gotten myself into?” Kostya mumbles. “...Smuggling drugs? Weapons?...Some type of illegal trade…” he ponders. The driver of the cargo van approaches one of the members of the Sudajes and is paid handsomely in cash. Meanwhile, the other members of the Sudajes follow the passenger of the all-white cargo van to the back of the vehicle in order to retrieve the goods. Kostya can hear the doors of the van open. But it is what he hears next that chills him: muffled shrills of terror. The piercing tones stroke his curiosity. The sharpness of the voices compels his legs to step outside of the pick-up truck. To his surprise, being forcefully shoved and transported from the Ukraine to Romania are not drugs, not weapons, but far worse: women. But also to his surprise, after the trembling women have been loaded into vehicle, Kostya, now trembling himself, climbs back into the pick-up truck and starts the ignition. The sight of the pick-up truck is visualized speeding into the distance on the roads to Romania.
In my adaptation of Heart of Darkness, the savages are represented by the members of the Sudajes. The main character, Kostya, represents Marlow. Just as Marlow senses the “wrongness” of the Africans held captive on the ship and does nothing particularly admirable or heroic for the victims of the circumstance, Kostya’s uneasiness hints at his recognition of the moral wrongness of human trafficking yet he makes no meritorious action to improve the situation for the victims.
I think that you answered the prompt beautifully in your synopsis of Trapped in Exploitation. It really grabs the essence of it and throws it back at you in a way that you can't ignore. The dilemma is one that is very heartbreaking, but maybe you should have your Marlow, struggling to keep his humanity in some form, because to me it seems that is what was happening to Marlow in his journey down the Congo.
ReplyDeleteYour synopsis was quite refreshing to read. I would dare to even say that I would read this story if it was written into a book. You really did capture the darkness that is within the night...How the most corrupt actions can be done in the shadows of the night while most of society is oblivious to it. However, there are individuals like Kostya and Marlow that do recognize the evil in the world, and they are shocked by it. Yet, they do nothing to correct it. I believe you captured Marlow fully, yet I would have liked to have seen a main character that played Kurtz. Kurtz was spoken of throughout Conrad's entire book. There has to be the evil, corrupt Kurtz character. That is just my opinion. Nonetheless, I loved your story. It made me want to have the book in my hands to turn to the next page.
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