(Released 2009)

The movie ”Cargo” is a Swiss produced, Scifi movie in German and was released in 2009. It is directed by Ivan Engler and Ralph Etter and stars a talented cast of actors such as Anna-Katharina Shwabroh, Martin Rapold, Michael Finger, Claude-Oliver Rudolph, Yangzom Brauen, Pierre Semmler, Regula Grauwiller, Gilles Tschudi, Maria Boettner.

Simply put, the story is fantastic and deals with the misuse of virtual reality technology by a corrupt ruling body. It is also a murder mystery with themes very relevant in today´s society.

The story takes place in the year 2267 where the environment of the Earth is no longer sustainable and people live on overcrowded space stations orbiting the Earth. The main character Laura Portmann is trying to pay a trip to Rhea, a clean planet with beautiful skies, clean air and fertile oceans. She signs up to work on an 8 year round trip flight to station 42 on a cargo ship aptly called the Kassandra. She ends up on a trip to Rhea and uncovers the secret behind Rhea and Earth.

The ancient Roman rulers had an expression called ”Bread and Circus”. It was a way to keep the masses distracted. ”bread and circus” refers to the providing of food and entertainment to the people in order to avoid mass revolt. Basically the ancient Roman Empire had serious problems of fraud and mismanagent but the ruling class didn´t worry about mass revolt because the people had entertainment and enough to eat.

The movie ”Cargo” is an example of ”bread and circus” where the people are promised a healthy environment on Rhea, away from the ecologically collapsed world of Earth. Rhea is a virtual world that does not exist and the people don´t know it. It is not a healthy planet with a thriving colony. They are plugged into a machine that simulates a pleasant reality to them and their minds cannot tell the difference. Rhea is an illusion and a distraction. It is not a solution to humanity´s problems.

This is a very good movie with many good themes, an interestingly unraveling story with many twists and turns and likeable characters such as Dr. Laura Portmann played by Anna-Katharina Shawbroh. There is the very relevant and important theme of the misuse of virtual reality technology. A misuse that goes beyond selfish escapism to the much more serious crimes involving corporate and governmental fraud on the many. For this reason I feel that ”Cargo” is a trailblazer.

This movie is visually beautiful at times, very well done with a great story. I highly recommend ”Cargo” for all the reasons above as a must see and own.

 I2Q

 (Commentary by www.ink2quill.com )

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