1932's Kongo: A Story of Revenge, and the Price Paid for It

I found Kongo to be very interesting. For me Kongo is more than just a story about the vengeance of a wronged man. It's about what the consequences are for the anger and hate that makes you want to seek vengeance. I was also really surprised with the complexity of the characters in the story being that it was made in 1932.

When the movie first starts out I actually thought I could understand why Flint wanted revenge but, as the story and characters began to develop, I could see where he let his anger get the best of him. Then I felt kind of bad for him because he was blinded by his rage and couldn't tell he was doing far more harm to himself then he could ever do to his enemy.

I guess my favorite character in the movie is King "Dead Legs" Flint played by Walter Huston . I guess for me it's because it wasn't hard to put myself in his shoes, being disabled myself. I really understood the drive in the character where, no matter how much he suffered; it was all going to be worth it just to see his enemy crushed. I also love the way the characters scrambled to use each other's crutches to try and gain a higher order in the hierarchy they had.

Ultimately the message I got from this film and the characters, is that it's never too late to change or start over. They just don't
make movies like this anymore. What I mean by that is they're entertaining but they make an important statement too. I fell in love with this movie but I doubt many younger horror fans would be interested in this type of film. While researching it, I found out that there was an earlier version made in 1929 that starred Lon Chaney called "West of Zanzibar", which is something I definitely am going to have to check out. However, as for Kongo, unless you're a
fan of older movies, you probably wouldn't be interested in this.

I give it 4/5 stars