Movie Review: The Road

I am unsure of what brought this film to my attention; I had not read Cormac McCarthy's book by the same name. Strangely, I have read some of his shorter fiction, and his terrific use of language did not go wasted.

But they, too, in their presentation, was quite bleak.

You might want to get used to that word. It's the adjective today.

I like to think of myself as a happy person, a positive, likeable individual. Diplomatic, approachable. And, because of that, perhaps, I seek out the dark, the forced corners of rooms, to balance my manner of being. I read and write horror fiction; I love the Haunted Mansion over any postive future that Future World in EPCOT can bring.

I think by exercising such demons, I'm able to keep myself a bit more together than most. It's a risk I take, I'm sure, and one day I may just snap. But perhaps that why I found myself really into the movie based on Cormac's text.

No matter how bleak.

The tale unfolds after some kind of apocolyse. It is never detailed, never elaborated upon, nor should it have to be. It merely establishes the setting.  And the filmmaker, Joe Hillcoat, emphasizes it with an elaborate use of shades of gray-probably the best I've seen in use since Speilberg's Schlinder's List.  Darkness abounds, hope is lost and all that is left is a basic shade of a newspaper.

Into this landscape, the author and filmmaker toss two souls, Man and Boy. No proper nouns at all. That's telling us, in the audience what we are to read into the tale.

This is an allegory, folks. By not having a name, we can go ahead and inject our own fears and desires onto the protagonists. And what a journey they are taking. Whatever killed off the world, killed off all animals and all plants. Food doesn't exist. Roving bands of bandits caputure travelers and devour them.

Man is played by Viggo Mortensen, who, as I see him on screen more and more, is becoming something of a working man's Johnny Depp. Both take strange and fantastic roles whenever possible, juicy parts that are just outside of expectation and it works. Here? A doctor (it's hinted at) and his son. He cannot kill himself, but he does wish to. He cannot bring himself to kill his living son, in his case played by up and coming Kodi McPhee (he'll be the new X-Men as Nightcrawler), who, since he is a child, only sees good.

The drawback of young actors? He is a bit too clueless. Surely a child would even learn the threat of people with guns and no food, if that's the only existence you've had most of your life. But this is a quibble, for his role is nto particularly elaborate.

For all it's bleakness, it is a good movie, but I'm not using the word, "good," correctly. Good as in a sturdy movie that conveys a themetic enterprise to a conclusion.  There's a full story here, excellent imagery and strong symbolism.  It is very worthwhile.

But, understand, this is not a horror movie.  Even though the tale is horrific and the elements wherein, this isn't designed to scare you or play with supernatural elements in any way. Nor is this a piece on science fiction, a meditation of life after a disaster. It is, and this is it's strong point, a rumination of concepts of hope and dreams. They are part of our nature, just as sure as the bare necessities. These character wish to live, even when there's no reason to do so.

It is played out in a very different manner in shows like The Walking Dead, but here, the story is the thing, the drama the medium to carry out the message. Wereas I would recommend it, it would be with trepidation. This is a movie for art houses and the ilk, so taht folks can head to the coffeehouse and discuss their feelings about what they saw. This isn't one to scream and yell.

Let me know what you think?