Plot by Imdb: "A group of outcasts from different backgrounds/nationalities are forced by misfortune to work in a remote oil drilling operation in South America.. When fire breaks out of control, the outcasts are given the opportunity to earn enough money to get out by transporting two crates of unstable nitroglycerin through miles of jungle in ancient trucks. Will they succeed and regain their honor and citizenship, or get blown up for their efforts? "
Where to begin?
A Remake of the all-time classic adventure movie from Henry-George Clouzot's "The Wages of Fear", this strangely often forgotten masterpiece from William Friedkin is also the one movie that destroyed his career in Hollywood and sent him to the "blacklist" hell.
First, the movie: In my humble opinion, this is a fascinating piece of cinematography. Almost every aspect of 70's cinema is represented here: an overall documentary aspect (a huge influence on Friedkin), part of a gripping thriller in the tradition of the Film Noir (the main character story), the political times of the decade (for the Palestinian terrorism and the French political scandal sequences), the exotic-fantastic settings (not unlike Apocalypse Now, the jungle environment begins as an hostile environment to turn into a mental landscape of the protagonists) and the experimental cinema (for the hallucination sequence in the end) .
Mixing all this, and despite the very different backgrounds of his main characters, Friedkin shows us that, in the end, everything comes down to pure survival. And survival means pure capitalism in our world, as they all end up being forced to work for this Oil company in the middle of nowhere, risking the only thing they have left to sell: their very lives.
The cast is brillant: Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, Amidou...They are all perfect and credible.
The soundtrack from Tangerine Dream is one of my favorite and works perfectly with the images, whether it is in an urban landscape or inside the "magical" jungle. Check out the trailer to hear a bit of this wonderful partition.
Last but not least, it is also a tragedy, as it will be Friedkin last movie for a long while in Hollywood. The making of the movie was catastrophic (late, over budget, filled with accidents and mayhem, etc...) and the dictatorial attitude of a megalomaniac Friedkin at the time just killed his reputation as a A-list director and sinked his career, almost for good. It would take him a long time to regain the trust of financial partners and go back to filmaking on a large scale again.
A journey to hell and back for its director, "Sorcerer" is Friedkin's "Apocalypse Now": Unfortunately for the director, it didn't end up well for him.
Absolute masterpiece, to be watched and studied over and over.
Trailer:
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