Not many films can boast such an intriguing plotline as Angus Sampson’s The Smuggler (named The Mule in Australia), in which the simple yet distressing notion of someone being unable to go to the toilet is transformed into a tense comic thriller that keeps both mind, and especially body, on edge throughout. This straightforward yet elaborate crime story centres around the unfortunate Ray (played by Sampson himself), whose attempts to smuggle twenty condoms of heroin from Bangkok to Melbourne via his stomach results in a gruelling stand-off between the police and Ray’s delicate orifice. It’s a film which truly encapsulates the darker undertones of toilet humour whilst creating graphic suspense out of a commonplace experience, and it does so in a way that is both grotesquely laughable at times whilst retaining it’s critical integrity through a neatly stylised plot.
Following Ray’s end of season football team touring of Bangkok and his conviction to smuggle heroin back to Australia, the police quickly identify him as a mule following a luggage mix up and propose to detain him for several days until he excretes the drugs from his system. Unable to prosecute, however, without the drugs out of his stomach, Ray tenaciously decides to stick it out with the help of his erstwhile lawyer (Georgina Haig) to avoid going to jail, but to also avoid the retribution of the criminal gang who set him up for the job. Pitted against federal agents in the form of good cop Paris (Ewan Leslie), and bad cop Croft (Hugo Weaving), what ensues is a siege mentality where the slightest of movements in Ray’s intestine is mirrored by the subtle developments in the plot as the pressure builds on Ray to defecate and release the suspense which pervades the film throughout.
In tracing Ray‘s development, this passive, unseeming character who possesses the perfect attributes for a mule quickly becomes embroiled in a situation that is both beyond and equally within the boundaries of his control. His gullible and humble nature inhibits him yet equally allows him to bypass the manipulations of criminals and police alike, whilst his submissive character undergoes a telling development in the face of such extraordinary odds. With the American-Australian sailing competition working as a backdrop throughout, Ray’s struggle epitomises the underdog story and encourages our sympathy for his uncompromising position caught between the brutal powers of the law and the criminal underworld.
Through the simplicity of the plot interweaved with elaborate and intricate developments throughout, Sampson provides a wickedly macabre comic thriller that is gut wrenchingly captivating from start to finish. The film creates suspense out of practically nothing in centring the plot around the simple yet equally unsettling concept of constipation, as we are led on an erratic journey in Ray’s boots which is both light hearted and thrilling in its critical achievement. The anticipation surrounding Ray’s hold out may keep you transfixed, yet this is a film which contains plenty of other plaudits for its stylistic values, and deserves recognition for its genuine ability to grab your attention in a way that proves incredibly entertaining throughout.
Oscar Ponton
Image courtesy of Trinity Films