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‘Paradise Highway’ Holds Together


Morgan Freeman and Juliette Binoche in “Paradise Highway”.

“Paradise Highway” (114 min, Rated R for violence, language, and thematic elements involving a child). 7 out of 10

As a first-time effort, screenwriter/director Anna Gutto has made an impressive entry into feature films with a solid feature, “Paradise Highway,” an original story she came up with, though grabbed from the headlines as you will see. Starring two Oscar winners, Juliette Binoche (now 58) and Morgan Freeman (now 85), she shows command on the screen. Though the story goes a little awry and nearly off the rails in the third act, it holds together for an effective character-driven thriller.

Though those two venerable stars grab your attention, as does the always hard-working Frank Grillo, the real star is youngster Hala Finley, playing a 12-year-old girl who is at the center of an insidious human trafficking ring in which she is supposed to be sold and shipped out of the country as a sex slave. Such stores like this surface every so often — and they always sicken me to see the depths of depravity humans can lower themselves to. Add up all the other atrocities we inflict on one another and you wonder how we ever became civilized.

Playing against type, and quite well, Juliette Binoche plays Sally, a dirty, grimy, dingy foul-mouthed truck driver who lives out of her truck and travels across the country like a nomad hauling goods for a living. Her good-for-nothing brother, Dennis (a perfect role for Grillo), is about to be released from prison, but has gotten himself caught in a ring of human traffickers (all young girls, of course) who have been kidnapped from their families — and he needs Sally to do him this last favor…deliver a package. She agrees because she loves her brother — but when she finds out the “package” is a 12-year-old girl, Leila (Finley), who has been severely abused for years, she draws the line. At the pick-up, drop-off point, Leila grabs Sally’s sawed-off shotgun and kills the man.

All chaos ensues as Sally makes a run for it with the girl in tow and hits the road in a state of panic not sure what her next move is. This all takes place in Southeast U.S. Enter grizzled, old codger, former FBI agent, Gerick (Freeman) and his wet-behind-the-ears FBI agent Sterling (Cameron Monaghan), who are hot on their trail and onto the human traffickers. Also in pursuit are the initial perpetrators who want their “cargo” back — putting Sally’s life in jeopardy. Roughly half of the story involves Sally and Leila engaging in tart back-and-forth arguments while on the run with the other half devoted to Gerick and Sterling piecing together clues as to where Sally may be taking the girl, who at this point is wanted for murder…and now abduction of a minor.

Fully loaded with high emotions and ethical boundaries as Sally (who was also abused as a child) slowly becomes a mother figure to the girl whom she never had, a bittersweet bond becomes the center of the story as if life brought these two misfits together like mother and daughter. The scenes with Freeman, who is actually very good and didn’t phone in his performance, and Monaghan, are mostly well done, even though this material is below Freeman’s paygrade. And so does Binoche who sinks deep into her rough-edged redneck persona — totally enslaves herself to this grimy role — something she’s never done before. For her and Freeman, these are odd casting choices.

But it is the young actress Hala Finely who grabs the most attention as her character occupies the most important aspect of the film. Thanks to an insightful, well-developed script by debut director Gutto, and some fine performances, though it ends on a predictable yet satisfying note, “Paradise Highway” is a solid piece of filmmaking.

“Paradise Highway” was released at theaters, On-Demand and digital on July 29.

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