Final Acts of Mercy on the Road to Oblivion
Created | Updated Jul 8, 2018
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Final Acts of Mercy on the Road to Oblivion
Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.
Psalm 49:20, Authorised Version
Cargo
2017, Australian
Writer: Yolanda Ramke
Directors: Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling
Starring: Martin Freeman, Anthony Hayes, Caren Pistorius
One day, when I worked for gamers, I overheard a fellow gamemaster say to another, with evident satisfaction, 'Now, that is the definitive zombie movie.' I almost choked. I loathe post-apocalyptic films. The bad kind bore me half to death. The good kind tear my heart out. Cargo is the good kind.
When Cargo was over and I choked back the last sob, I realised that I had finally understood the purpose of zombie films. After all, every horror film is a response to the discovery of a primal fear generated by the errors of human history: vampires represent the fear that the old, bad bloody ways of our ancestors are still lurking in the graveyard to threaten us. Mad-scientist horror is an attempt to deal with our misuse of technology1. The zombie stories of the 1920s and 1930s were about the dawning realisation that colonialism left a terrible legacy. Werewolves are fear of nature, which is why they're so old-fashioned in the age of satnav. And so on. I never understood the post-Romero zombie until now.
Post-Romero zombies confront the fear that humans will lose their humanity entirely. Like all the other fears, this one is fear of judgement: to rid itself of the plague that is humankind, might not the planet itself devise a way to destroy the breed? What would be more logical than to end this thinking primate by destroying its ability to think? Poetic justice: the creature that rapes the planet reduced to a mindless beast intent only on the consumption of its own kind? The penny drops. I finally get it. Colour me slow-witted.
It's not an illogical fear, that one. However, most of the other films are no help in dealing with it. They just revel in carnage and jump scares. You're supposed to cheer for the best-looking actors to survive. What use is that? Cargo is a different film. Cargo is about redemption. (I did not say it had a happy ending. Don't try to pin that one on me.)
I can't tell you the plot. That would be one big spoiler. I can't even tell you why you'll finish the film, if not sobbing, at least with a lump in your throat. I can't tell you why I'm convinced the filmmakers needed a talent like Martin Freeman's to pull it off. You'll have to see it to understand all that.
I can tell you the setup: a loving couple with a one-year-old baby daughter are discovered on a houseboat on a river in Australia. The government is dropping 'containment kits' containing the pitiful help it can offer. There's a map of Australia showing where the viral outbreaks are. A card, like the emergency cards you get on airplanes, outlines the bleak progression of the disease, from bile-vomiting to end-stage burying-your-head-in-the-Outback-dirt full zombiedom. A chic slimline plastic bracelet is provided with an automatic timer to count down your last 48 hours of sanity – digital, of course. One final mercy is included in this official kit – a spring-operated icepick. Visual instructions are clear: point at temple, steel self for impact. At least you'll die human. We get to examine these items early in the film. That's not the horrible part. It's just the toolkit we need to understand Andy Rose's choices if he wants to save his daughter Rosie. In the end, he and others discover their own acts of mercy. And that's all I'm going to tell you about it.
The film doesn't drag. It doesn't feature overdone music or artificial jump scares. It's visually impressive without being obvious. No actors chew scenery. There are no wild scenes of action and carnage with fast vehicles and high-powered weaponry. The story will torture you, though, if you're paying attention to what's going on. There's a lot of showing rather than telling here.
The most we can expect of any film is that, when we are finished watching, we feel that we've experienced a moment of clarity – that we have increased our understanding of one of these questions to which, allegedly, the answer is 42. Cargo does this. It's on Netflix. Go see it.
Just don't use it for a date movie.
