Cargo is a 2018 about a father trying to save his child at all costs while living in a post-apocalyptic nightmare.
Zombie movies have had a decidedly slow evolution, the classic chase and chomp theme a standard that has proven one of the most successful tropes in all of cinema. Over the years, a few films have given it a tweak, some trying to give the theme a bit of a twist, looking to load a bit more emotional investment into the horror than straight up guts and glory. Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke‘s Cargo certainly aims to give the experience a yank and try something a little different, leaving this a dark but entertaining take.
Set in Australia in a near future, things have broken down, with a natural catastrophe leaving most of the population infected and transformed into a rambling sort of undead skulking around the landscape. If bitten, the body begins a slow gooey meltdown that spreads like a virus. On the run are Andy (Martin Freeman), Kay (Susie Porter), and baby Rosie, struggling to get by on an abandoned houseboat, provisions low and with little hope to keep them going. Inevitably, Kay is bitten, the transformation unstoppable, leaving Andy alone with Rosie to try to survive, coming upon a few stranded others who shape his journey, one marked by its own pressing countdown.
Cargo is a game of slow reveals, the film less looking to fill its runtime with moments of raw chaotic rampage than with long still sequences of chilling discovery. This is a movie where a flash of a gun from a distance says everything about a situation without a word being spoken. These remarkably clear moments paint a larger picture of desperation we never need to see beyond the horizon, the implication it reaches well after obvious. We see government issued care packages, including tips on how to survive and a suicide syringe, that offer all the exposition necessary, allowing the story to shift forward entirely on Andy’s shoulders, which is right where it needs to be.
Among these he meets are Vic (Anthony Hayes), a human hunter camping at an oil field with a young woman named Lorraine (Caren Pistorius), whom appears to be there not entirely of her own free will, and Thoomi (Simone Landers), a young Aboriginal girl fending for herself in the wilds with her captured turned father (Bruce R. Carter). I won’t spoil how they are connected, but suffice to say that not everything evil is undead.
Cargo introduces an Aboriginal element to the story that is balanced very precariously with its over-arching themes, unspooling parallel views and actions about how this outbreak is handled. These are horrific times, beset by harrowing choices as Andy becomes cornered by indescribable personal nightmares. Surely, much of what we see can be viewed as metaphor for much more as Andy finds himself in increasingly traumatizing circumstances that force him into action.
Admittedly, the filmmakers contrive a bit of the momentum, and some points along the way can be seen well before they arrive. This is not an action-heavy film and as such, there are some issues with pacing as it spends a lot of time in quiet sizzle, ever so slowly ramping up its tension. It’s a bleak movie, very well-acted and directed, that relies entirely on its characters rather than the rarely seen monsters that hunt them. Freeman is effortlessly good to watch, embracing a moving story of survival that might not follow the conventions of a typical zombie movie but is well worth exploring.