The Truckman

Directed by Andrea M. Catinella

2023

We open with a Deuteronomy quote – a book of the Jewish Torah consisting of sermons from Moses about the years of wilderness and the arrival at the Promised Land - and this Holy scripture is more than apt for The Truckman, a story of survival in a harsh world of conflict.

A selection of excellently captured drone shots begin the story and display the splendid and peaceful countryside (of Warwick) which is then contrasted with a voiceover and radio news clips that detail a climate emergency leaving only a few forests left.

With water scarce, we see John (Benjamin Peter Jones) and his son Deacon (Joseph Emms) disagree about how to confront the challenges they face. And as people talk about resorting to drinking urine, the film solidly sets up its disaster world where a camp of survivors discuss their dwindling supplies.

Contrasting this is a brief scene where a quasi-religious sect with ominous red symbols on their foreheads (the Archetypes) appear in the woods and whose sinister chief promises to “lead my people to salvation”.

Returning to the calm encampment we see a number of resourceful folk as well as Deacon’s wife – who is heavily pregnant. This leads to The Truckman’s script which could do with a slight polish as characters often explain every obvious situation and emotion. Lines like “I’ll protect you”, says Deacon (we can see you love your wife on screen) and “It hurts so much” (well, you’re giving birth, madam) seem particularly unnecessary. A “born into a world full of violence” platitude is on-the-nose and, to be honest, it also seems the least of your worries when a sentient human is coming from your loins.

It reminded me of the recent film Vesper (our review) which had a similar eco-message warning about struggles for scarce resources, whilst the pregnancy theme harks to similar post-apocalyptic movies Children of Men (2006) and A Quiet Place (2018). Both they and The Truckman all successfully explore how present global issues will affect the next generation after us. When the inevitable birth occurs however, it takes up a good 3+ minutes of this short’s runtime which felt too long without really developing much in the way of story. And a child that is eventually (and obviously) named Hope.

Yet the director does use some excellent moments of special effects with a car on fire and the hand-held camera work is first-rate - giving the film plenty of energy and adding a lot of realism to the dramatic scenes.

As family tragedies begin to come to light, the camp is suddenly thrown into turmoil as a man is discovered injured on the forest floor. This incident leads to a heart-pounding, and well-edited, encounter with The Archetypes in an exceptional chaotic battle.

This all may seem like sci-fi fantasy but (at the time of writing in Oct 2023) is highly prescient with current world affairs. The recent terrorist attack in Israel with its tragic fighting over land and resources based around belief has scary parallels with the short.

And without spoilers, there’s some very disturbing and emotional scenes as the story heads towards its dark conclusion with the question of revenge and righteousness coming to the forefront. Will a cycle of violence continue or is the nature of revenge simply the search for justice? Or is it more simply the survival of the fittest in a world of insufficient resources?

The film provides no easy answers to this and little in the way of hope to be honest. But that may be its biggest attribute. It doesn’t shy from the awful consequences that could (and do) occur when situations become dire for those involved. Whether it’s belief or science, a lot of aspects are explored and The Truckman ends as an intriguing short of contemporary and intertwining issues that boldly explores how global disasters can lead to horrific outcomes affecting everyone, no matter who you are.

★★★½

3.5 / 5

Michael Sales

Extra note: A straight-to-the-point bit of advice for filmmakers is to be succinct with a film’s synopsis when promoting. Where possible stay away from providing the entire plot in detail, its various thematic strands and definitely no spoilers.