Carga

Brutal and grim, Carga tackles the ugly reality of human trafficking and sex slavery. The film begins somewhat awkwardly with a written preface explaining how Viktoriya (Michalina Olszanska), fleeing Eastern Europe for Portugal as an illegal immigrant, meets Antonio (Vitor Norte), a long-haul, cross-border truck driver who regularly smuggles refugees in his cargo container. The opening scene turns out to be one of betrayal: a guilt-ridden Antonio drives to a rendezvous point to meet Viktor (an excellent Dmitry Bogomolov), a trafficker who would make an imposing villain in a James Bond movie (if 007 had to take on a super-pimp). From there, all of the expected horrors happen: kidnapping, rape, and murder, but while Viktoriya bends under all of this violence perpetrated against and around her, she never breaks, waiting instead for her moment. Meanwhile, Antonio feels tormented as he lures new victims to Viktor (the viewer suspects that extortion and threats are pressuring the driver), and Viktor himself is revealed to have grown up with dehumanizing, corrupting influences. In a left-handed way, writer-director Bruno Gascon expresses faith in a kind of original goodness in people, something fundamental that is stolen by others already diminished by the world’s wickedness. Gascon doesn’t pull any punches in the film’s most harrowing moments of violence (including sexual violence), which can make Carga very hard to watch, but he also taps into the unexpressed emotions of characters who ultimately are more than simply victims or collaborators in evil. Recommended. (T. Keogh)