Run for Her Life

Somewhat in the same genre' as the film "Traffic" which takes the viewer into the extremely dark world of human trafficking of kidnapped children sold to pedophile clients, "Inhale" takes the viewer into the dark world of "no questions asked" human organ trafficking, sold into the medical black market.

There's no fooling around, fluff or frills in this film.

Right from the start, the viewer is plunged into a contorted realm of existence, faced with horrific choices that have to be made under the worst of imaginable circumstances.

Desperate parents, hoping against hope for a donor lung transplant, while their daughter is inching ever closer to death, faced with a seemingly illogical and unfair organ recipient listing system, realize that they have to resort to other "outside the box" options, immediately.

In the real world, this is a scenario that is all too familiar for countless thousands of parents, who, regardless of expense or effort needed, will travel to various clinics outside the USA, to save their children from otherwise certain death. To cater to this need, there are many parts of the world where, for the right price, the desperately needed organ(s) in question magically appear on demand to the highest bidder.

All things considered, this film does deliver a bone chilling dose of drama under duress, and then some.

The only part that I felt seemed to be a bit weak was the ending, which was tailored more to suit a politically correct message, rather than deliver a realistic rendering of what would actually happen in such circumstances.

Having said that, however, the casting and acting in this piece fit into this story like a hand to a glove. I had no trouble in suspending disbelief while viewing this film, as I personally have traveled around a bit and have seen first hand what this sort of scenario looks like.

I give the director a lot of credit for trying to deliver this view into a world mostly hidden from the general public, via this dramatic platform.

As previously suggested, this film is not for the squeamish or faint of heart.

The movie is generally good. I don't know why some reviewers have focused on the incredulity of the story. I think this movie makes a good rental. It is a bit of a hard viewing, not just because of some violence or sex but because of the overall subject matter itself. I thought that the director kept the focus on the story.

When I checked for the reviews I was surprised that it did not have very many reviews. I think the producers and director should be given some positive feedback because this movie did appear to deliver as a movie.

There are some intensely annoying loose ends. So ignore the first ten minutes. If it was not for this I would have given this movie 7 or even 8. Since the story was not cleaned up in the beginning it gets only 6 out of 10.

Paul and Diane Stanton (Dermot Mulroney and Diane Kruger) are living a comfortable life in Santa Fe, New Mexico but conflicted with their daughter's stage four lung disease. After months of waiting on the national waiting list so their daughter could get a replacement, Paul discovers a friend, gubernatorial candidate James Harrison (Sam Shepard) has had an illegal heart transplant. Harrison agrees to tell Paul all he knows, which sends Paul to Tijuana to find a mysterious Dr. Navarro, the man behind the curtain of illegal organ transplants.

Organ transplants are just as dangerous and just as illegal as human trafficking, and can cause as much and more heartache. "Inhale" takes a regular family man and places him in war-torn Tijuana to try to save the life if his little girl using any means necessary, which makes you question his moral authority. Good films do just that, they make you think. Great films, however, leave you thinking.

Dermot Mulroney doesn't usually play the leading character but gives a tour-de-force performance here. He is beaten and bruised on his journey but does not give up and held my attention throughout. The beautiful Diane Kruger is equally as good but underused as his frantic wife, tending to be a sidelines character who never gets her due. Sam Shepard successfully plays a slick politician, and the entire Hispanic cast, including the equally slick Jordi Molla, hold their own.

The script has a few problems, mostly with explanation. Shepard's character's relationship to Mulroney's character is never quite explained. It appears they work together and are close, then suggests the opposite when Shepard is running for Governor. Kruger is underused, which takes away from much of "Inhale"'s potential. She is a fantastic actress but seeing her cry isn't enough. She's too good to be so one - dimensional, which suggests some of the film never made it off the cutting room floor.

James Newton Howard's soundtrack blends seamlessly into the background, becoming a character in itself as it differentiates New Mexico and Mexico. The ending is perhaps the biggest fault of the film. The choices Paul makes throughout takes him to a surgical room where he is faced with an incredibly difficult choice. When we discover which choice he made, we are made to think if it was right. If we never knew, that would have left us thinking long after the screen went black.

"Inhale" takes the organ trafficking debate head on, which is admirable. Yet the film isn't as good as the message it gets across.

This movie is part of a series of movies (Babel, Man on fire comes to mind) which portray the very difficult Mexican social and economic situation next to the American border and how delicate the balance between the two countries is. While North Americans in general have a complete ignorance of the culture and origins of Mexico, they still see them as a source of trouble for their fatherland. As I speak, more restrictive immigration laws are being enforced for Mexicans and South Americans in some states in the U.S. A part of the North American society believes drugs, mobs and social violence is directly related to Mexicans. Again, the turmoil in Mexico is in no small part caused by the necessities North Americans have to "sustain" their honest, well intentioned way of life.

This necessity is what moves a prosecutor (played convincingly by Dermot Mulroney) to go deep into cruel and dangerous Mexican territory (mainly Juarez) in search of an illegal lung donor and an illegal transplant in order to save his daughter's life. During the journey, he'll encounter a dark life of crime and violence unknown to many Americans except when they have to resort to Mexicans for the dirty jobs they won't do themselves or for their convenience. The movie builds tension quite appropriately as we see a desperate father willing to risk his life in search of a mysterious doctor who is in charge of such operations. In his way, he'll see children gangs, prostitution, corrupt policemen and all the colors of human misery when poverty reigns. But he will also discover kindness, decency and the innocence of children (even those carrying automatic guns). In the eyes of the character everyone is corrupt and dishonest and this concept (although it may offend Mexicans or Latin Americans) is exactly what the script aims to do. It tries to show us how ignorant rich societies are of the way poor ones live and that not everyone who lives humbly is a criminal as the main character will find out. He'll also find out that the most despicable characters in the movie are not even Mexicans. (Surprise, surprise they are fellow North Americans). This is a journey of awakening for someone who has to go down to hell because he needs to.

In any case, the characters are believable. The wife (played by Diane Kruger) is a strong and determining character. Chief of police Aguilar (played by an impeccable Jordi Moya) is everything you'd expect from a degenerated police officer and Sam Shepard is also convincing. The music also deserves special mentioning although Newton Howard is basically copying Santaolalla's concept as heard in Brokeback Mountain or Babel. The in crescendo and the very emotional ending add to a movie which is decent and leaves a very important message mostly Mexicans and South Americans as I understand. Rich societies play an important part in the state of poverty (and its consequences) which is undermining poor societies and they have the moral power to revert this situation. That is, if they really wanted to.

The basic premise of this film does not give reason for very high expectations --- dedicated parents with child in distress, how far are they willing to go, and what do they need to do in order to save their child. In this case, the child needs an organ transplant, and as the usual channels do not seem to be able to save her, the parents need to get creative about procuring a suitable organ in some other way.

This is fertile breeding ground for loads of cheese, contrived story lines, and emotional vignettes. And even though you can see the end coming from quite a bit away, and even the movie isn't entirely free of cheese, it's a dark and gritty movie that explores its subject without too much sentimentality and isn't afraid to look where standard Hollywood fare might not.

The solid story is helped along by a strong cast led by a great Mulroney (who seems to be expanding his range with every work I see him in), and it pains me to say that even Diane Kruger (whom I otherwise enjoy to slam) turns in an excellent performance, as does the interesting supporting cast (Arquette appears somewhat underused, it wouldn't be surprising if a good deal of her material ended up on the cutting room floor).

At some point in the film you realize that no matter which way things go, the ending won't be a very happy one. To me, that is where I see the true strength of this movie, and I find it much more important than the particular road the story ends up taking (and which seems to have made many viewers rather unhappy judging from the discussion boards). To be sure, I like the ending, and much prefer it over its conceivable alternatives, but the real point remains that our protagonist had arrived at a situation that no longer admitted a 'happy' resolution.

Definitely worth seeing.