If someone were to ask you, ‘what is the most suspenseful film of all time’ was, what would you say? There are quite a few different answers one would expect to hear, but least likely of them all would be a relatively obscure French film from 1953: The Wages of Fear. Despite having nothing to do with serial killers, ghosts, car chases or action set pieces, The Wages of Fear still manages to grip its audience with an unnervingly tight grasp, and it doesn’t let go - even after the film has ended - because you are still cringing in fear and anxiety. Surprisingly, the plot is really very simplistic. An oil company hires four men to drive two trucks across 300 kilometers on a notoriously hospitable ‘road’ to deliver two truckloads of nitroglycerine. The catch? Its nitroglycerin… and normal trucks aren’t designed to carry it under even the best of circumstances, let alone on the arduous, pot hole ridden, oops-guess-they-forgot-to-finish-that-bridge path they have to take. Even one bump and they are blown into tiny pieces.
I’ll admit, the first hour of the film is maybe a bit slow, or rather; it is a bit too long. It sets up the destitute situation all the characters are in, which is one of poverty and a struggle just to get food on the table. Life is leading nowhere, and as one character explains, it is all you can do just to stay alive, and unless you have the money, there is no way of leaving the village – if you can even call it that. The film is also nice commentary on how big corporations can easily take advantage of the poor and needy, which is also set up in the first hour as well, but I still think we could have done with it being fifteen minutes shorter. A minor quibble though – in fact, it is probably the only problem I have with the movie at all, because once the four characters (including two who are named Mario and Luigi – I laughed!) set out on their journeys, the film does not relent or slow down.
Ironically, much of The Wages of Fear moves at a snail’s pace; since the trucks can’t go too fast - even the slightest jolt means instant death - there is not much fast paced racing against time, as you would find in most suspense thrillers. It’s a slow, tedious and careful journey. Yet at the same time, the suspense just kills you because director Henri-Georges Clouzot masterfully is able to put you right in that truck with the characters and you can feel the terror they are experiencing. Cheap tactics such as a race against the clock with exciting music and what not are not required because the suspense comes from the fact that they are literally driving in ticking time bombs. It doesn’t matter if they are driving at five kilometers an hour, because either way it is still suspenseful and petrifying. The characters faces gleam with sweat and their eyes betray their terrifying dread - fear itself literally oozes from the screen. They say fear is contagious, and this film is no exception. There are scenes where the characters will cringe in horror, believing they are about to die, and you literally find yourself cringing along side them.
Of course, for the one and a half hours which The Wages of Fears tracks the dangerous progress of the four men, it can’t all be driving at five kilometers an hour, so of course there are many obstacles which are encountered which simply magnify everything about the already hugely dangerous and nerve racking journey. There is a bridge that has not been completed and happens to be rotting. There is a section of the road where it is so bad that the only way to get through it is to move extremely fast, so as to ‘glide’ over the pot holes – but if you slow down at all, then your truck will hit them and it’s all over. There is a giant bolder which cannot be moved – unless they were somehow able to blow it up… It just doesn’t end. The perilous situations simply are relentless and continue to build the suspense as they encounter each one. Finally, there is the famous oil sequence near the end, which I can’t really describe without spoiling some plot points – but needless to say, it’s the harshest, cruelest most horrifying scene in the film, a sort of sick, morbid climax to all the terror that has been experienced up until that point. And during the entire time all the characters – and the audience – could think about was the truck loads of nitroglycerin in the back, just waiting the explode. A time bomb, except worse- there is no countdown, no warning… A dark, terrorizing splinter in the characters’ – and the audiences’ – minds. Haunting them. Torturing them. And the key to the suspense of the film.
In addition to the insane amount of suspense The Wages of Fear generates, there should also be mention of the great subtext the film has. I already mentioned that it shows how corporations shamelessly take advantage of the needy, but there is also the themes about fear and greed. Fear is a given, considering the plot of the movie, but I found it interesting how fear was represented in different ways between all four characters. It shows how everyone handles it differently and how it ultimately shows our true personalities and characters. You can know a man all your life only to find out he is really someone completely different when he is put to the test, and The Wages of Fear does a very good job at illustrating this, even featuring some dramatic character reversals. The other theme is that of greed, since the only reason the four men accept the job is so that they can get paid money. That is fair enough, but how far are they willing to go to get that money, and what are they willing to sacrifice? The answers are quite sobering, but they show that behind the suspenseful exterior of The Wages of Fear, there is a lot of well done subtext which says a lot about the human condition.
What else is there to say? The Wages of Fear is quite simply a brilliant film. It takes a simple premise and runs wild with it, creating what I believe to be the most suspenseful, tension filled film of all time. From a snail’s crawl to situations where if they slow down, they die – there is always something just around the corner waiting to bring them closer to death. You can see it in the four men’s performances, you can see it in their faces and in their eyes - and you can ultimately feel the fear, the suspense and the terror. The Wages of Fear: how much is man willing to dare fate? How much does fear pay? What sacrifices is man willing to make – who are they willing to sacrifice? The Wages of Fear: an overlooked piece of brilliant cinema which I urge you to get a hold of as soon as you can.
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