État de choc

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.

Fast paced movie with a good plot.The movie talks about the illegal part of heart transplantation and how they do it. the casts fit the role exactly and the movie doesn't lose its objective or story anywhere. The emotional part in the movie is touching. the movie enters the story in the very first scene itself. The scenes are properly edited and there is no confusion in any of the scenes. The movie catches its speed once the hero enters the Mexico. From there on the furious story of illegal heart transplantation begins. The hero too goes there to find a heart for his daughter who ails from serious asthma problems.She needs an immediate transplantation. But the hero faces a great piece of challenge, Ethics. In the last scene , he faces his own moral values against saving his daughter. Watch it. Its worth watching.Its actually good!

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.

What would you do? Your daughter is about to die, your family is breaking apart and your wallet is big enough to afford a human life.

This is basically what this movie is about. As boring that this story starts it really changes fast to an affecting one for everybody who watches this movie. When life saving decisions all of the sudden fall into the hands of a father and a mother of an seriously ill child you should expect to see heartbreaking drama. If then heartless people get involved you should even expect some fireworks. This is basically what you get here.

I seriously recommend this movie to everybody who doesn't wanna see another softened Hollywood ballyhoo and instead likes to ask themselves questions about life and how they would react to certain decisions.

INHALE is a fine little gripping drama from writers Walter Doty and John Clafin who based this timely tale on a story by Christian Escario about the extremes to which people will go to when terminal illness takes the mains stage of their lives. It is a very dark story but survives becoming morbidly dreary by the sensitive direction from Baltasar Kormákur and a strong cast.

Paul Stanton (Dermot Mulroney) is a successful attorney married to Diane (Diane Kruger) and they have one child Chloe (Mia Stallard) who suffers form a terminal pulmonary disease. The family's life is driven by love but also by the fact that Chloe needs frequent emergency trips to the hospital because of her tenuous hold on life. Paul and Diane are finally told Dr. Rubin (Roseanna Arquette) that the only choice they have for saving Chole is a lung transplant. Paul searches the methods for finding an entry into this overcrowded demand for organ transplant and when he discovers that a powerful man James Harrison (Sam Shepard) received an illegal heart transplant in Mexico, Paul sets out to find the source. In Mexico he discovers just how crime-ridden is this area of 'sales' and persists until he uncovers a doctor Navarro - a code name - in the person of Dr. Martinez (Vincent Perez). The hideaway compound where the illegal transplants are performed is surrounded by poor people and gangs and the one person that helps the desperate Paul find the source of illegal organs is a kid who befriends him. When a 'donor' becomes available, there is a decision that Paul must make, one based on human kindness and compassion balancing with his won desires to deliver lungs to his daughter.

Mulroney is particularly excellent in this tough role and the gamut of emotions is staggering. And the remainder of the cast, including the gifted Jordi Mollà in an important cameo, is superb. The film is intense and disturbing but successfully explores the little known world of illegal organ transplantation. Another fine feather in the cap of Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur!

Grady Harp