Dead Slow Ahead

Dead Slow Ahead begins as a soothing and hypnotic nautical journey, leaving the soft Gulf port lights of New Orleans behind in the deep blackness of night. Filmmaker Mauro Herce embeds himself with the mostly Filipino crew of the cargo freighter Fair Lady as it crosses the vast and empty Atlantic ocean at a snail’s pace. His camera is a quiet and non-judgmental observer, with a child-like sense of wonder at the ship’s maritime technology, and a poet’s eye for the mystical beauty of the sea. The trip unfolds as an ambient marine odyssey, like Brian Eno lost at sea. Quiet, barely discernible music complements the meditative mechanical sounds of the freighter and the haunting noise of the sea and wind. Unexpected drama ensues when water rushes into one of the vast cargo holds, ruining the wheat shipment. A hallucinatory scene of the crew partying hard to karaoke also shatters the calm. But the massive ship heaves ever forward in its rhythm, and calculated shots of the ships imposing machinery are juxtaposed with the sad and disjointed conversations of crew members, calling their far-off loved ones who are celebrating the holidays once more without them. —Gustavus Kundahl