Cargo (2017) - Finding Humanity Among the Undead

The zombie genre is one fraught with clichés and predictability. With a handful of rare exceptions, if you've seen one zombie movie, you can pretty much map out the rest of them. That's what makes Cargo, an Australian Netflix original film from directors Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke, such a pleasant surprise. It's a refreshing change of pace for the genre, a zombie film that doesn't rely on the trite tenets of past films to carry it. Instead, it's an intelligent, cleverly-plotted, character-driven piece of storytelling that just so happens to be set against a searing post-apocalyptic backdrop.

Cargo's setup is nothing new for those familiar with the prototypical zombie movie. A mysterious virus that is seemingly devoid of a known cure has ravaged the human race and turned much of the population into blood-hungry zombies. Those who have survived up to this point must carefully navigate the perilous and desolate world that remains.

Andy (Martin Freeman) and Kay (Susie Porter) are a married couple doing their best to protect and provide for the precious cargo they carry with them: their baby daughter, Rosie. Despite the dire circumstances that plague the world around them, their lives are relatively peaceful. Living onboard a houseboat that keeps the pesky undead at bay, they have discovered a way to remain as safe as one might hope to be in such a calamitous world. Nonetheless, they are swiftly encountering shortages on food and supplies.

Driven by his dutiful desire to provide for his family, Andy scrounges the wreckage of an abandoned pleasure boat and is delighted when he unearths many months worth of canned goods. He brings the bounty back to his beloved wife and daughter, feeling like their state of affairs is beginning to improve, all things considered. Later on, unbeknownst to a napping Andy, Kay returns to the abandoned boat in search of more food and supplies. She is attacked by a Platinum Undead Club Member that was secretly slumbering below deck, thus setting into motion the film's high-stakes, time-sensitive narrative.

It takes roughly 48 hours for the virus to fully take effect, you see. So Andy has two days to get his dying wife to whatever is left of a nearby hospital in the hopes of perhaps finding a way to save her before she transforms into a zombie herself.

Martin Freeman proves a thoroughly capable leading man. His performance carries much of the film, and the supporting cast is equally up to the task. The movie also makes use of the absolutely beautiful rural Australian landscape. Geoffrey Simpson, an accomplished Australian cinematographer, does incredible work behind the camera, and the film is visually quite arresting.

Cargo is an unflinchingly bleak and often rather disheartening film. The circumstances of our protagonists are about as harrowing as they come, and Howling and Ramke do not shy away from the story's more upsetting elements. The world they have created is a world consumed by undeniable darkness, not only from the zombie-forming pandemic that leaves destruction and ruin in its wake, but also from some of the remaining survivors who have chosen to employ violence in an effort to attain some semblance of power in this utterly destabilized and deconstructed society. We encounter a few of these malicious individuals on our journey. Their existence is a testament to the fact that there will always be evil forces attempting to leave their venomous imprint on the world.

It is the responsibility of those who subscribe to goodness, to love, and to empathy to combat the hateful schemes of evil, not through further application of hate but through rebellious acts of love that stymie the permeation of malevolence. This is Cargo's primary message, and it expresses it through powerful examples of kindness trumping corruption and hostility. Despite the prevalent doom and gloom of its post-apocalyptic story, this is a film about human decency, about the inherent value of all human life, and about the positive impact we can have on the people around us simply by choosing to do the right thing.

While it's a little uneven, Cargo is an extremely effective addition to the zombie movie canon, one that revolves less around the gory action that characterizes most other similar films and more on the dynamics of it well-crafted characters. Check this one out on Netflix.

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