Review of Cargo (2006) by Mike B — 28 Mar 2010

"Cargo" is a brooding, Conradian yarn of moral malaise aboard a decrepit transport ship carrying an unholy assortment of contraband, human and otherwise. Focused upon a young stowaway whose presence forces the crew's horrible secrets to the surface, lean script by frequent Ken Loach scenarist Paul Laverty submerges scarcely below the water line a familiar European self-loathing for continuing colonial attitudes and misdeeds that's getting awfully shopworn.

First feature by vet narrative documentary filmmaker Clive Gordon possesses a sober dramatic force but is so soaked in the unsavory doings of the rancid crew members as to waterlog the venture commercially.