“The ROAD” (Viggo Mortenson, Kodi Smit-McPhee & Charlize Theron)
From now on when you look in any dictionary for the word bleak, it should say; See “The Road”. You couldn’t imagine a more pointless existence than the lives Viggo Mortenson and Kodi Smit-McPhee lead as father & son in ‘The Road’. I would suggest that they used the Talking Heads’ song “Road To Nowhere” as a theme to this film, but even that tune is more uplifting than the visually drab path ‘Papa’ & his young son travel.
Having said that, you’d think this was going to be a negative review, but it is not – I am merely warning those of you that haven’t seen it what you’re in for. “The Road” plods along from one bleak sequence to the next and yet somehow along the way you become captivated by this obviously doomed pair while fearing for how they will reach their inevitable conclusions. Less than halfway thru the film I surmised that there was no way this story was going to end happily. But is it worth seeing? Undoubtedly –certain scenes will stick with me for a very long time, even if I chose to never view 'The Road' again. As Viggo’s Papa holds the family gun to his son’s forehead & the frightened lad utters “When will I see you again?” It is a gutwretching moment. & the film is full of them, so don’t get ticked off if you feel that I’ve revealed too much by telling you about that scene – What leads up to it & what follows are just as heartbreaking & dismal.
The plot is simple – Due to some catastrophe of nature, the earth has been laid barren & most of mankind ceases to exist. Those that are left alive forage for anything edible to stave off starvation & with most of the plant & wildlife being eradicated as well, that means cannibalism is prevalent.
As Viggo (listed in the credits as ‘The Man’ but called ‘Papa’ by his son) leads his offspring along the barren road southward toward the coast his one & only concern is keeping his boy from being taken by the 'bad' guys that would kill and eat him.
This also means distrusting every human they encounter, even the ones who appear to be ‘good’ guys. ‘Papa’ is so focused upon this goal that he begins to lose his humanity and his son struggles to keep him from losing it completely.
The film isn’t in black & white, but for the post apocalyptic scenes it might as well have been. Charlize Theron plays Viggo’s wife who appears in flashbacks via his dreams – always to return to the gray, colorless world with a jolt. If I have one major complaint about the movie it is how Charlize’s departure is never really explained.
Robert Duvall & Guy Pearce appear in short cameos, but this is Mortenson’s & the young Smit-McPhee’s showcase & they are outstanding in their portrayals of two characters trapped in a complete state of desperation. Normally a film this bleak wouldn’t stand a chance of getting an Oscar nod, but with the expansion to 10 nominees & an exceptionally weak crop of worthy films, I’d be shocked if “The Road” doesn’t get in.
It is harrowing, bleak, depressing, bleak, scary, bleak & above all bleak, but it is a damn good movie... Did I mention that it’s also a little on the bleak side?
7 comments:
Great review. I read this book for free through a few days and many lattes at Barnes and Noble downtown. If you buy coffee they doesn't bother you for loietering. :)
I thought it to be a compelling read. The movie is engrossing, but very rarely does a movie impact you the way that was adapted from the original source. And The Road is no different. I am in the boat with others that agree the book is more jarring. I know, hard to believe things could get worse than that.
I do think Viggo deserves an Oscar nod. You believe he is in that situation. His truly disappears in that performance. I also have not seen all of the movies yet, but I can fairly say this would rank in my top 10 for 2009. I think a good movie experience is when you feel it. It makes you believe and feel what is going on and impacts you. The whole way through The Road, you really feel forboding. You just have a funny feeling things are not going to get better. I think the last film I got that feeling that hit me in a certain way was There Will Be Blood. After Plainview ships his son away, I had a pretty good feeling that things were not going to get better.
I'm also glad and found it refreshing to read a review that didn't complain about our " dark " times we are living in and this movie is so depressing, blah, blah, etc.
I always took from the book that it was a human spirit story. That you can still be a good human being in the most difficult of times when mostly whoever else survived had resorted to cannibalism. The man also knows he is dying and wants to implement that good into his son, and teach him how to be smart and how to stay alive. It's really about not giving up. Many people are coming away from it at the wrong angle.
People that moan on about it being depressing and bleak, I truly not getting the message behind the story.
Excuse the grammatical errors. I'm usually a stickler about that but I'm in a hurry and have to be somewhere now today ! I didn'ty edit. You get the gist of what I meant though.
HA ! I'm killing me !! Some days you just can't type.
I got your 'gist' (Though I thought only guys like Gordon Lightfoot used that word)
& thru all the typo's I loved the word 'forboding'; it's one I should have used instead of one too many bleaks.
If a movie makes me think of the way things are in the world today, or reminds me of something from my past, I'll usually insert those feelings into my reviews because I like to comment on my moviegoing experience as well as the film itself. With 'The Road' - it was depressing, but it was not of this world so I didn't think of how bad my current situation is, since there were no similarities between my being a victim of corporate downsizing & the hopeless struggle the father & son go through. I found it amusing that you felt the father was teaching his son to be good, whereas I felt the son was keeping the father from becoming bad. I agree 'papa' taught his son how to stay alive (Despite the fact that he more than once puts his gun to the boy's head) & the message is never give up hope even in the most hopeless sitaution imaginable... How can anyone slam that?
Finally, I think everyone agrees that the book is ALWAYS better than the film in every case - Though I haven't seen 'Where The Wild Things Are', I imagine that film may be the exception to the rule because that dumb little book stunk... 'Beloved', my ass!
I never read the book either. I just remember when it was supposed to come out last year, so I kept tabs on it after that.
I liked your review though. It's really what the movie is. You didn't blabber on and on about it's dark content. You should know that before going in. So if you are depressed when you leave the picture, that's your own fault ! And I also don't get why so many critics wallow in the bleak factor. So what. Not everything is happy in life. This is just a fairy tale with a messasge.
It's kind of amusing that so many people are debating the father's intentions.
I somehow related to him. My take may be a little different from the one both Terry and ML mentioned. As I always thought it to be highly realistic that the man, at any point, would be ready to kill his son and himself, had the situation become too dire or they would be tortured. Kill themselves before letting their spirit be compromised.
Maybe I just have a dark side to me, or maybe it's a coincidence, because my favorite movies of 2009 are The Hurt Locker, The Road, District 9 and Inglourious Basterds.
Don't go where the road don't go...
... Or - head down 'The Road' at your own risk!
I didn't feel as though I'd seen one of the Top 10 movies of 2009 when I walked out of the theatre, but when certain scenes kept flashing in my mind, it dawned on me that I did indeed see something 'memorable'.
I like all 4 of your favorites, Blue stater, just that they aren't at the top of my list - I've got the hilarious 'Hangover' as my #1.
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