Awesome writeup! Heart of Darkness followed by this movie had a profound impact on my conception of war and human motivations when I was 18 or so. The rabbit hole deepened for me with a Behind the Bastards podcast episode on King Leopold, and the book King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild. I have yet to finish that last book because the emotional toll it exacts is too tremendous to easily absorb.

It is only when things are publicized, and still often only when direct consequences are obvious, that destructive institutions finally change. Our biological drive is merely to outcompete - we try to dominate as far as we can without falling into disfavor. It's one of the only incentives that works and it's only because disfavor impedes domination.

Wow, these stories really make me cynical but that's also why they're so important. Things may not be ideal and we have these tendencies, but we can slowly learn to control it and pass on those skills. The rise of democracy and global communication coincided with one of the most peaceful eras in history and I hope we can keep making such innovations despite ongoing destruction. It can happen incrementally the more we learn not to take peace for granted by analyzing stories like you have done here.

Thanks for writing!