The Wages of Fear (1955)

Clouzot tells a tale of suspense and drama that man finds himself captive to. The thing that creates the drama is very straightforward and easy to grasp (a truck full of nitroglycerine). I think it is that simplicity contrasted with the complex and impossible to understand nature of man that makes this story so compelling and successful. Definitely worth checking out.

THE WAGES of FEAR is a cruel and sarcastic approach a existential thriller. The director plays with human psychology, whereas the protagonists travel through without hope and seek salvation. The action takes place around the four drivers who in two trucks transporting nitroglycerin at a great distance through the South American jungle, but the roads are full of potholes and obstacles which is very problematic because their cargo is very sensitive and can explode at the slightest impact.In the first third of the film develops the somewhat perverse drama in an isolated town where poverty is visible at every step. This part creates the necessary atmosphere and character development. Relationship between the protagonists are not explained. Each one acts on impulse and in their own way to cope with the agony brought by poverty and unemployment. As rescue appears cruel form of economic and corporate imperialism. On one side is a fear and hostility by the local population (cheap labor) to the oil company. For Europeans who live there, jobs, no matter how dangerous it was, the rescue or escape from the everyday agony. Then comes the sudden turn in a story that gets qualities of existential and adventurous thriller.Excitement, tension, danger and ice uncertainty.This is a strange blend of action and human reactions. The path of salvation through a nightmare. This approach awakens the worst and the best in man. The lack of sentimentality has contributed to the reality of the experience. This is a harsh struggle for survival.I wondered whether the protagonists actually brave, or just desperate and hopeless. End of the film did not need to be so ironic. Well, probably it was a low blow to the Hollywood thriller. Yves Montand as Mario is brave and ruthless character. In the end, his madness cost him life. Charles Vanel as Jo is a former gangster at all costs trying to flee the city. It's too dangerous to work and quite a coward when push comes to shove. I would not say that his life is more valuable. Peter van Eyck as Bimba is a character who does not have a specific goal in life. If he survives the accident would not have known what later. Very resourceful character in desperate situations. Folco Lulli as Luigi is diligent and cheerful man. He is faced with disease and in dangerous job offer see only salvation. Véra Clouzot as Linda is incredibly beautiful and pretty maid. A faithful lover. Enjoy the woman while she cleans floors is humiliating, but this scene is the responsibility of the atmosphere and theme of the film.Every little bump, blow or elevated tone in this film stops the heart.

In The Wages of Fear, four men in a remote South American town have the enviable task of transporting a metric buttload (technical term) of nitroglycerin across mountainous roads in poor condition. It's a taut, superbly suspenseful thriller, guided with a steady hand by director Henri-Georges Clouzot, who would go on to direct the classic Diabolique in 1955.Yves Montand, in a rare dramatic role, plays Mario, the ostensible protagonist of our tale. He's been stuck in this backwater for some time, but it costs a lot of money to get out – plane fares are through the roof, and there's no train, and there's no neighboring village. In short, you're stuck there until you can buy a ticket – and pay for a passport, of course.Mario spends his days looking for work, wooing tavern worker Linda, and despairing about the lack of work. There's an American oil company in town, but they're no longer hiring. His monotonous lifestyle is interrupted by the arrival of fellow expat Jo (Charles Vanel), a tough-looking older man who quickly wins Mario's favor at the expense of the rest of the men in town.The oil company, in fact, has its own problem – one of their large derricks has exploded, causing a huge oil fire. Company man Bill O'Brien decides to send two trucks loaded with nitro from the town up the mountain to the derrick. (The eventual idea is to set off charges, which will somehow contain or extinguish the fire.) O'Brien has no trouble scaring up volunteers for the task, since the men of the town are largely unemployed. Four men will be selected to take the two trucks. Only one truck is needed; the second is truly just in case there's an accident with the first one. The men will receive $2000 when the work is finished, more than enough to secure passage out of the backwater.Mario and Jo are chosen, as are Mario's roommate Luigi (Folco Lulli) and German expat Bimba (Peter van Eyck). The two trucks depart early in the morning, full of gas and of nitro. Danger awaits.Theirs is not an easy task. The road is full of ruts. In one place, the wooden deck that trucks use to make a sharp turn up the mountain has been damaged from disuse. It's hot and muggy. And one has to be very, very careful, as even the smallest bump might set the whole shebang off. There's also tension among the four drivers – Luigi is unhappy that Mario is spending more time with Jo than with him, Mario is unhappy with what he perceives as Jo's cowardice. Bimba seems to get along with everyone, though.The whole time I was watching this movie, I was certain not all four were going to make it. I will not spoil what is now a sixty-three-year-old movie, but I was still genuinely surprised by the ending. This ain't no fairy tale or sitcom. This is a movie about desperation, redemption, sacrifice, and comeuppance. It's not necessarily about justice.The Wages of Fear is a singularly terrific movie from start to finish, exquisitely shot and expertly written. Its money maker is its tension, something present here in spades. The writing is impeccable; even personality changes make perfect sense within the film's context. There are intricacies within a straightforward plot. This is a must see for lovers of thrillers.

SPOILEROverall this is a classic, no doubt! There are some moments where a bit more attention to logic and detail would have hoisted it so much higher around attention risk and explosives.Why they are transporting Nitro long after Nobel had stabilised it to Dynamite is not clear. Seems it was made 'on site' after the Wells Fargo Office incident of 1866. A bit of Cirque Du Soleil wobbling on OHS nightmare planks whilst loading the goods by the 'workers' presages impending events. Generally though it holds up reasonably well until the boulder in the road.It takes much 'golly gosh darn why us?' before note they note they have explosives... (wow!) which would be the first choice of any road builder. Luigi hops up and 'drills a neat hole with a steel bar the size of a mans forearm in the time it takes Bimba who seems to know his stuff, to wobble precariously off the truck with a jerry can of Nitro, and set himself up for a Nitro Head Spliter by syphoning it orally. The 'rope' suspending the hammer is clearly safety fuse but logical they had some with the Nitro but no detonators. Not 'rope'. Now this is lit and suddenly they remember, having backed up the trucks, the 'rock rain'. Too late. This is where Gerard Depardieu in Jean De Florette wears it. Salaud! But given the size of the flask and the position in the sometime porous rock it would be unlikely to project upwards. And miraculously the road is clear bar a black patch of burnt ah... imagination. Now we get to the Luigi and Bimba crater. No sing of the truck or the guys: given blast is going down and forwards in respect of the truck. No metal nothing. They have I think 42 cans each assume 5 gallon each. So about 800 litres. One lunch thermos full produces blast 1 (rock) whilst 42 cans produces blast B. Um. Blast B looks about right sadly given in 2016 we have many Explosives in Truck Bombs in recent history to compare to.Pedantic? Perhaps but otherwise its brilliant. I recall 'Mario running down Jo' years ago as a kid. It stayed with me. OBriens voice in the office sounds like Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood 2007), and the sense of trapped listlessness in the town at the start echoes the despair in Heart of Darkness (Conrad) and recalls parts of The Passenger (Antonioni) and goes some way to explaining the behaviour of the characters. All filmed in France too.The ending? A 'moral ending' with the wages of xyz in his pocket was 'correct' if rather illogical & smacked of 'how can we finish this?' Mario oblivious to basic risk having survived the trauma of the scenario and killing Jo, then literally waltzes off the road with his money.Salaud! Oh yeah, the English subs on my version didn't quite reflect some of the abuse hurled in French. I have worked around but not with explosives in mining and have been in a 'rock rain'. A little attention to detail would have made this great movie 'complete'