Cargo (2017) review

(first published on Jazz Moreton's Facebook page, 27/07/2020)

Last night, I watched Cargo (2017) on Netflix. It's not the type of film I usually watch (I tend to go for documentaries/social action films), but I was craving Zombie films- yes, I'm that well-rounded!

Cargo is set in rural Australia and follows two parents and their baby daughter as they strive to survive in the Australian outback. Because the notion of Zombie epidemics draws paralells with our global Covid-19 pandemic, the idea of focussing on one's own, and one's loved ones', survival in an increasingly dangerous world no longer seems a million miles from home.

Cargo proved itself to be unlike what one might expect from a film of its genre: rather than the panic of holing up in a relatively secure space with supplies and weapons, Andy and Kay start off on a houseboat with their baby daughter, and are travelling towards a hospital.

As the film unwinds, it transpires that the government have clearly attempted to get a hold on the epidemic: Andy and Kay have, contained in ziplock bags, what appear to be government-made 'suicide kits'. These are complete with stopwatches- that time the minutes you have left as a human following a Zombie-bite- and what we can assume to be lethal chemicals in syringes, ready for human beings to inject into their bodies before they turn.

Andy, Kay, and their little girl are not the only people surviving in the outback, and the film exposes the different ways in which human beings react to potentially deadly situations, from Aboriginal Australians to violent white men.

This is the most human Zombie film I've seen, it is at times heartwarming as well as terrifying.

10/10 would recommend!