Le salaire de la peur

The Wages of Fear has a deadly opening that illustrates the deadly boredom and resigned mood among the unemployed Europeans in a small town in an unnamed South American country. The tension curve rises sharply when 4 of the unemployed men qualify for the job of lorry drivers for an American oil company. The Frenchmen Mario and Jo, the Italian Luigi and the German Bimba are to drive highly explosive nitroglycerine in two lorries up to one of the oilfields that has caught fire. The pay is high, but so is the risk.

The film is effective suspense from the moment the men climb up into the cab and set out on a perilous obstacle course where only one makes it through. His fate, though, turns out grim all the same; this is not Hollywood!

The Wages of Fear shows how people react under stress and fear. These men are not heroes, but they dream of a better life somewhere else. The only female role, the barmaid Linda, is unfortunately rather superfluous and silly.

How nice with a film where the language is not standardised. Those who speak French, Italian, Spanish and English respectively, do so. The film is also a critique of the USA's exploitative role in South America, but it is the human and suspense story that comes first.