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Every day, thousands of truck drivers work their way back and forth across the country, transporting the goods that we use and consume on a daily basis. But in Paradise Highway, one trucker finds herself in a troubling situation when she ends up on the road with the wrong kind of package.
Paradise Highway takes to the open road with Sally (Juliette Binoche), a trucker who’s been forced to transport packages in order to keep her brother, Dennis (Frank Grillo), safe in prison. When she’s given one last package before his release, though, she’s shocked to find that it’s a young girl named Leila (Hala Finley). After Leila kills the man who’s supposed to take her, Sally and Leila go on the run, tracked by the traffickers, the police, and a retired FBI agent (Morgan Freeman) and his partner (Cameron Monaghan) who are determined to bring down the trafficking ring.
With this one last delivery, everything changes for Sally. She’s managed to keep her head down for so long and just live her life—but when Leila ends up in her truck, it’s clear that there’s more than just Sally’s need to keep her brother safe that connects the two.
There’s something entirely fascinating about Sally and her story—this woman with no home other than her truck, who spends her life on the open highway, whose friends are the waitresses and cashiers at the truck stops she frequents and her fellow female truckers who chat away the miles. Sally has had a difficult life—and she’s more than a little rough around the edges—but she has a huge heart. She’ll do anything for her brother, and she feels a strong instinct to protect this young girl, whose troubled childhood reminds her too much of her own.
This story is heartbreaking in so many ways—and it’s a story that’s all too real, all too common. But it’s told from a different perspective—not just of those working to track down the bad guys but of this young girl who’s seen way too many horrors and the woman who’s fighting to keep her safe. And that gives more of a personality—and makes it memorable.
More than just the typical heavy crime drama, Paradise Highway has a little more depth, a little more heart. The relationship between these two strong female characters—as well as the involvement of some of the strong women around them—makes it a moving and unexpected drama.
You can find Paradise Highway in theaters and on demand beginning on July 29, 2022.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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