Sorcerer is a 1977 movie directed by William Friedkin.
Sorcerer tells the story of four men – all outcasts from society – who are tasked with transporting highly volatile nitroglycerin through the Latin American jungle.
There’s a tired cliche about Hollywood: they don’t make movies like this anymore. However, in the case of Sorcerer, it’s true. There is nothing extraordinary about this movie – but its simplicity, pacing, tension and authentic characters simply aren’t found that often.
Further, ideas of redemption and moral obligation aren’t dominant themes. We’re not given vast amounts of details regarding our characters. We know why they’re stuck in the jungle – and more importantly, we learn that their basic motivation is to escape.
At its core, Sorcerer is a classic man vs. nature story. The jungle is unforgiving and the nitroglycerin the men are transporting is highly unstable. However, given this backdrop – the men have to rely on their own ingenuity – an omnipresent character trait from the 1970’s and 1980’s that seems lost today.
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