the wages of fear (1953)

it’s just oil, calm down

ah yes, december 27th. andy-palooza! a few days after christmas every year, my dad hosts andy-palooza, which is typically a well curated film festival along with buffalo wings + a surplus of chinese food in celebration of his birthday. i often think the extravaganza lasts 4 days, but nonetheless, it’s just one.

this year, we ended up watching the wages of fear. it was very much a noir-esque french thriller from 1953— directed by Henry-Georgez Clouzot. The story is pretty wild from start to finish— a rico-sauve looking frenchman eyeing a clearly familiar woman in a small south american town housing an american oil company. the frenchman is looking for a way to afford a flight back to france, as is his old pal (or so it seemed to me)

the american oil company has to find a way to transport two full truckloads of the highly explosive chemical nitroglycerin 300 miles— the oil company has 10 or so town-folk show up to apply for the position but only plan to send 4 men on the mission, incentivizing them with $2000 USD each.

in what seems like a rat-race job application, the head of the oil drilling operation rides shotgun in a montage of driving tests to see who the most careful drivers are— the frenchman and his old pal are picked— woohoo. what could possibly go wrong? there definitely aren’t any explosions in a movie about nitroglycerin, ARE THERE?

i won’t spoil anymore, but i will say it’s a heartbreaking tale of both hardship & friendship that had me really analyzing it hours later. just look at the damn stills. also, big oil sucks.