The Road
After No Country for Old Men, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a film based on a Cormac McCarthy book. I enjoyed No Country, for the most part, but like a lot of people, I felt somewhat alienated by the ending. I’ve always been a fan of stories where the character(s) are forced to survive by their own wits in a disastrous situation, such as being stranded on a desert island or lost in the mountains. The Road is about the Earth slowly becoming uninhabitable as a result of a meteor.
The Road, however, is a bit more straightforward. Viggo Mortensen is the lead character, a nameless father, who leads his son towards a warm, southern refuge that may or may not exist. Everywhere they go carries the possibility of running into roving gangs of cannibals. There is absolutely no food to be found (all plant life seems to have died), except for the occasional grasshopper or 10-year-old can of Coke. Their journey seems to follow whatever major highway they’ve managed to find, which runs right into a truck full of armed men. You’d think they’d avoid such major roadways when they’re always full of danger. Rightfully so, Mortensen is overly paranoid, dodging every possible confrontation. And, just in case, the father carries a handgun with two bullets – one for him, and one for his son.
The son is, in most respects, a typical child character. He wants to believe everyone has the best of intentions, asks mindless questions, and is especially possessive of useless trinkets and toys. He clutches his father for safety, and whines whenever he doesn’t get his way. Both remember the third figure, the mother and wife. Her story is told in flashbacks experienced by the father, which also serve to explain how the beginning of the end of the world affected them.
The film reminded me heavily of 2008’s Blindness, a similar film with a bleak outlook, washed out visual effects, and nameless characters. Where Blindness seemed foolishly illogical and unlikable, the characters in The Road often act the way we think we would in the same situation. We’re fairly sure there is no sunny haven waiting at the end of the movie, but if we were the father and son, we know we’d need to have something to journey towards.
Road depicts the scenario of a dying planet and a dwindling and desperate population extremely well, and a little too graphically well at times. That’s not a knock, but a tough-to-watch accomplishment by the filmmakers. But, the flaw of the film is that it’s somewhat limited by what it can do. It’s a disaster movie, and can’t really travel outside the boundaries of such a film without transcending genres or breaking rules. Again, not a knock, just an opinion. Still, what The Road sets out to do, it does very well. Just be prepared for a very dark and depressing film that doesn’t let up.
