'Wages of Fear'

A fascinating and important film.

It's set in South America. At an oilfield owned by an American company, a well exploded and caught fire (sound familiar?) and the company seeks four of the natives of a small village to navigate the treachorous terrain with two truckfuls of highly volatile explosives.

Our main heroes are the dashing and interesting Mario and his comrade, Joe, a pudgy, high-talking outsider who had just come into town throwing money and words around.

They ride together taking turns at the wheel. Both trucks must be careful to not disturb the explosives. The wrong bump and they're all dead.

We eventually learn that Joe is a coward and particularly useless to Mario who, at this point, must depend on himself to get the job finished.

The other truck -- driven by Bimba Luigi (two very interesting characters) -- eventually do blow up quite unexpectantly not only creating a giant crater in the road, but also a large pipe transporting oil. The crater is thick with the mud and oil, and Joe and Mario must still pass.

In an attempt to get the truck across, Joe is crushed under the truck, mangling his leg. He wears the oil and mud like a second skin. Mario, too, to get the truck across is covered in the black mess. A pretty poignant scene: Two poor laborers soaked in oil from the land they work in, but owned by an American company.

This film was released in 1953, and, yet, the director and writers knew -- or had an idea -- what a power the Americans had and what a bigger pull oil would have and what it would do to the people of this world.