Review by Zoë Robert.

District Attorney Paul Stanton (Dermot Mulroney) finds himself in a position where he needs to break the law when he and his wife Diane (Diane Kruger) get news that their daughter Chloe (Mia Stallard), who is suffering from a rare degenerative disease, is in urgent need of a double lung transplant but are among thousands on the waiting list. According to Baltasar Kormákur’s 2010 drama/thriller, demand for organs in the United States exceeds supply 10:1.

“Who knows what a lung costs in Mexico,” Paul says to his wife as they discuss whether USD 100,000 is enough to take matters into their own hands. 

Paul crosses from Santa Fe into the Mexican border town of Juarez, the so-called murder capital of the world, where he’s heard he might be able to get his daughter’s transplant fast-tracked.

But Paul immediately finds himself the target of suspicion and violence, getting beaten up several times as he tries to follow the trail to a new pair of lungs.

Occasionally crossing the line into documentary style, we follow Paul as he navigates the streets of Juarez trying to locate the elusive ‘Dr. Navarro,’ who he’s heard will be able to help him jump the waiting list for a lung transplant in Mexico—the only chance to save his daughter before her lungs collapse.

In moving back and forth between Paul’s life and job of prestige in the States, where he’s in the process of prosecuting a registered sex offender, and the steoreotypical dusty streets, violence and poverty associated with the Mexican town, the movie emphasizes the contrasts between life in the two countries as well as draws on issues of morality and the value of life.

Soon Paul discovers that he’s not buying his way to the top of the organ transplant waiting list in Mexico but rather that he’s uncovered an illegal trade in organs.

Ultimately, Paul must make a decision as to whether to save his daughter or uncover the trade which puts Mexican street children at risk.

Inhale may be sensational at times and the exact sequence of events implausible but as any good thriller it keeps you on your seat and can be applauded for bringing the importance of organ donation and the subsequent issue of organ trafficking to light.

The film cites Organs Watch as estimating that 15,000 people are trafficked for their organs per year by organized crime.

Inhale is available on DVD for purchase here and here. 

Click here to view the trailer.

Zoë Robert – zoe@icelandreview.com