A Bahamian Fisherman with a gambling addiction in Nassau takes a job smuggling Haitians to Florida in a desperate ploy to support his family.

“In life, we don’t get what we deserve, we get what we negotiate” – taking this line from his 2013 short film Passage, director Kareem Mortimer (Children of God) follows that award-winning short film up with his fully conceptualized version of the harrowing narrative in his feature film, Cargo (2017). Set in the faraway beauty of the Bahamas, Kareem Mortimer sheds light on the dark struggles of an oppressed but striving people by placing the camera intimately in the midst of their relationships. Check out this tense and visually gripping trailer for Cargo, and believe me when I say that the complete feature delivers and improves even more upon its beautiful and gut-wrenching short.

Inspired by true events, Cargo follows a luckless but loving husband, Kevin (Warren Brown), who works his way from unsuccessful fisherman to human smuggling kingpin. In the beginning, Kevins suffers a careless wife who despises him, as well as stress from not having enough funds to keep his son enrolled in school. To make ends meet and to pay off his gambling debts, Kevin takes a tip from his friend who introduces him to a local boss operating a human trafficking business out of an auto repair shop. Promising them $5k per run each, the friends are tasked with smuggling human cargo from Nassau to a remote area off of the cost of Florida via midnight boat rides. After Kevin procures the boat and his friend procures him a handgun “in case things happen”, the friends and their heavy cargo embark from the seedy docks into the dark abyss of the Caribbean Sea. As he completes more runs, Kevin enjoys the money rolling in, allowing him to properly take care of his family’s needs and to finally pay his debts, although he also begins to take care of his personal need for nurturing by beginning a torrid and romantic affair with a poor coffee shop waitress, named Gessica Geneus (Celianne), one who happens to be undocumented Haitian living in fear of deportation from Jamaica. After the port police continually catch him on the waters, Kevin can no longer use his unassuming disguise and is forced to stop making the runs, much to the anger of his boss. But when his girlfriend comes to him begging to take her and her son to Miami for a better chance at life, Kevin sets out on a final smuggling run as all of his problems come to a head while out at sea.

Opening with a choir singing over a scene of lifeless bodies washed ashore of an idyllic Caribbean beach, Mortimer juxtaposes tragedy with beauty, an image and concept that he uses throughout Cargo, which consistently presents stark contrasts within its heavy narrative. Cargo answers the question of what someone’s life must be like for them to risk everything on such a journey by showing the impoverished and dangerous lives of Haitians living in a post-colonial world and seemingly trapped within their circumstances. Mortimer portrays this through a very lean script, free of unnecessary information and conversations, leaving only room for his gripping dialogue that often skirts the edge of poetry. Though the supporting cast of administrative characters were very minor flatlines in the acting, the main cast — Omar Dorsey, Warren Brown, Gessica Geneus, and Jimmy Jean-Louis (who I am a fan of from his Heroes tv show days!) — left me at times on the edge of tears. The heartbreaking performances from the two lonely and romantically-entwined souls, Kevin and Celianne, played by Brown and Geneus, particularly made this movie exceptional; their pain was made palpable by kinetic and minute detail in their facial expressions as director Mortimer delicately took them through each sad act of their tough journey.

Cargo is a socio-political thriller that displays the distinct cultures of Haiti and Jamaica, while also bringing them together under the Pan African Diaspora. Their peoples are united under one intrinsic struggle to find peace and a life worth living while historically and continually being devalued and underserved, while also being overused. In their struggle towards American shores, their dreams turn into nightmares as we see that people gamble with their lives and often lose. The aspect of documented vs undocumented people in the film draws a surprising similarity and holds up a foggy mirror to American xenophobia; the undocumented live in fear of being uprooted and are treated as second class citizens. This movie should be a conversation starter to take a look at actions towards immigration and refugees worldwide, as Kareem continually brings the issues of his own country to light.

Released to 10 countries and labeled as one of the biggest budgeted Bahamian films ever made at an estimated $1.5M, director Kareem Mortimer continues to build the groundwork for Bahamian cinema by showcasing beautifully complex characters from that background. A movie the examines the personal issues of crushing pressure, taking care of yourself and your loved ones, and how every action has a reaction, while also examining the bigger issues of refugees, race, and class. Cargo may have been filmed a world away but will hit close to home for many thanks to compassionate but unflinching direction from burgeoning filmmaker Kareem J. Mortimer. Catch his solo sophomore feature, Cargo, due for U.S. release through his Best Ever Film production company on May 31st, 2019.