Review of The Wages of Fear (1953) by Atlas O — 30 Mar 2008
A thrilling and tense film about four losers who are roped into driving two trucks of highly dangerous explosives 300 miles to a drilling site, Clouzot's masterpiece is simultaneously one of the most gripping "quest" films yet made and one of the most compelling critiques of capitalism's failings.
Apart from Mario, all of the characters in this movie are largely selfish, despicable and morally vacuous. They don't care about friendship or each other, all they seemingly want or need is the paltry wealth offered to them by performing this extremely dangerous mission.
Whilst there's a relatively simplistic "whims of fate" style ending, Wages of Fear is an amazing excercise in tension and pathos, with the earlier somewhat slow scenes in the dusty South American town providing us with all the backstory we need for the epic journey to have real emotional resonance.
This review of The Wages of Fear (1953) was written by Atlas O on 30 Mar 2008.
The Wages of Fear has generally received very positive reviews.
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