Monday, August 15, 2011

Le Salaire de la Peur [The Wages of Fear] (1953)

So if my father's enthusiasm for this film is any indication, "The Wages of Fear" should give us a fun time. And by "fun time," I mean "hours of stomach-churning anxiety." The plot traces a group of workers so down on their luck that they agree to transport truckloads full of highly explosive nitroglycerine across perilous mountain paths in order to extinguish an oil well. Guess where the oil well is? South America. Guess the nationality of the impoverished volunteers? A hodgepodge of Europeans. And guess who owns the oil well? That's right . . . Team America! Mayhaps there be an economic critique in them there perilous mountain paths? Either way, it promises to be an entertaining one: according to Dad, the movie was shown to patients in blood pressure medication trials in order to simulate a high stress environment. Yeesh. Well, here's hoping this Palme d'Or winner can redeem France after "La Captive"!

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