Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke’s Cargo, based on their short film of the same name, made its debut at the Adelaide Film Festival on October 6, 2017. I didn’t know much about it other than the post-apocalyptic zombie theme and its lead actor, Martin Freeman. It sounded like something worth watching because Freeman is a wonderful talent, and I’ve yet to grow tired of the genre.
The movie begins just after a mysterious pandemic has spread across Australia. This illness has a 48-hour incubation period, and symptoms of the infection become more obvious as time ticks away. After the clock runs down, the host turns into a dangerous monster. Caught in the middle of this pandemic are Andy, his wife Kay, and their one-year-old daughter Rosie. They’ve been surviving by traversing a river, in hopes of finding a settlement. Then, on an excursion to find more resources, Kay becomes infected and succumbs to the illness. Kay attacks Andy, and he has the requisite 48 hours to bring their daughter to safety, struggling through a world where it’s every man for himself.
The tension in the movie is palpable from the very beginning, and I was waiting for something awful to happen at every turn. It’s a tension that doesn’t let up but hangs silently in the background. Baby Rosie has no chance to survive on her own unless Andy can secure her safety before time runs out. Andy wears a timer that keeps the tension elevated, and we watch his time to remain in control diminish with each hour. The gradual metamorphosis gives away his inevitable fate. Each new character that he encounters in the wasteland only adds to this almost unbearable tension, as you never know who will be a friend or foe. Put simply, this world is on edge because of the dangers its inhabitants face.
I’m no Australian scholar, but I believe the movie was making a statement about Aboriginal culture. Thoomi, a young Aboriginal girl, serves as Andy’s guide through the post-apocalyptic landscape. She seems unafraid of the creatures. She tells him her white face paint protects her from their ability to sense her. We also see her tribe surviving attacks from the creatures, while the rest of the Australian people fall to these attacks. Was the movie trying to say something about the indigenous population’s knowledge of how to protect their lands and people? Or was it a massive coincidence that the Aborigines were able to survive? I don’t know for sure, and I could be reading too much into it, but this plot raised a lot of philosophical questions in my mind.
Cargo is a refreshing addition to the zombie genre. The characters never even mention the Z-word! It doesn’t deal in massive hoards of the undead or a huge group of scrappy survivors. It operates on a much more personal scale, with a man who wants to protect his baby. He wants to ensure that she can survive even though he knows he’s doomed. Like every other good monster movie, the most savage creatures are the human beings that he encounters along the way.
If you’re looking for something more realistic in your zombie flicks, then Cargo is right up your alley.
Cargo is currently streaming on Netflix.
5/5