The RoadTeaching your child how to survive is the greatest challenge for any parent; faced with the end of days, it is herculean. The Road is a story of an unnamed man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) attempting to survive against all odds after a global extinction event has occurred. The man attempts to teach his boy to survive and also to "carry the fire"--to lead a life which is more civilized than those who surround them, who have fallen prey to depravities like cannibalism--all while they make their way along roads and through towns littered with the specter of civilization, progressing south and toward the coast.
|
|
The father narrates the story at intervals, recalling his life before this apocalypse in his dreams. He remembers the warm days when the sun shone in the sky above, before--as he puts it--it became more and more gray with each day. The opening of The Road is his dream of the time before this largely unexplained calamity struck, of his days with his wife (Charlize Theron), playing with horses, attempting to learn the piano. It is when he awakens that he is pulled back into the nightmare, where even the earth shudders in its death throes, and trees collapse like desiccated bones. The man attempts to keep his hope in spite of horrors such as vicious thieves and bandits who would kill him and his boy for flesh. So desperate is he to ensure that his son will not suffer, that he has saved two bullets--one for him, one for his son--so that if the time comes, they may depart this world without being tortured. This is the world of The Road, where this savagery is the substitute for mercy. The man tries to share what he can of the past with his son, but is hesitant to do so, in part because he doesn't want to be reminded of it anymore than he has to endure in his wistful dreams. Flashbacks to the past--before and after the fall--reveal that the boy was born shortly after the event, and the woman doubted that they should bring the boy into such a dying world, whereas the man saw his birth as the "word of God", the belief that goodness can thrive even in the face of certain doom. Their journey is frequently met with tense moments and the immediate terror that comes with being confronted by those who want to destroy them. They witness people so desperate and depraved that it's no small wonder that the man maintains a vice-like grip over his child. But as the man and the boy travel down the literal and metaphorical road, the man also shows instances where he is unsympathetic--even cold--to the few people they do encounter, like an old man named Ely (Robert Duvall). The man talks of how he and his son are the "good guys", that how they live is as important as that they live. So the boy is confused when he sees the opportunity to represent that he carries the fire by his generosity and mercy, and his father's desperation seems to contradict that message. It is the eternal struggle for a parent to wish for their children to uphold the values they consider sacred, but do not believe they can live by themselves.
The Road is a grim movie, punctuated by moments of rare happiness, such as when the man and boy uncover a bunker with food stuffs and amenities which we take for granted, like shampoo and toothpaste. The challenges and tribulations which confront the man and his boy are reminiscent of the same kind of end-of-the-world survival tales found in zombie apocalypse horror stories, like "The Walking Dead" or the films by George Romero. The premise of the man protecting his charge against the horrors of a harsh, destabilized world, where the cruel thrive, also served as an inspiration for the critically-acclaimed video game, "The Last of Us". The grief which grows more malignant within the man eventually eats away at him, challenging him with his own mortality. His desperation to cling to life is done to ensure that his son can survive, although the specter of death always seems to haunt him. His journey to the shore is a struggle for him to maintain his hold on life. Like the remnants of the Earth, he is reluctant to embrace oblivion, a ghost serving as a guide, mentor, and guardian, clutching to the last vestiges of his life, what it could have been before the terrible event. His journey is one of letting go; he begins with his attempts to let go of his wife in his mind, his grief dragging him down into the abyss of despair. He parts with his last picture of her and his wedding band while on an overpass, looking down into the expanse beneath him, not wanting his sorrow to impede his protection over his son, literally sacrificing his dreams for him. It is sad then that the man cannot spare one drop of his tears for the story Ely implies about his own lost son. Somewhere deep down, the man sees himself in Ely, and believes that at some point, in the man's mind, Ely must have wavered for a second...and a second is sometimes all it takes. In the end, what is important is that a child can not only survive with the skills and lessons taught by a parent, but incorporate something of themselves into the teaching, something unique that defines them and makes them special, even at the end of the world.
Recommended for: Fans of a gripping and cathartic drama about a parent and child, about love and protection, and also about the lengths a father will go to ensure his legacy for his son, even when everything else in the world has fallen apart.
The Road is a grim movie, punctuated by moments of rare happiness, such as when the man and boy uncover a bunker with food stuffs and amenities which we take for granted, like shampoo and toothpaste. The challenges and tribulations which confront the man and his boy are reminiscent of the same kind of end-of-the-world survival tales found in zombie apocalypse horror stories, like "The Walking Dead" or the films by George Romero. The premise of the man protecting his charge against the horrors of a harsh, destabilized world, where the cruel thrive, also served as an inspiration for the critically-acclaimed video game, "The Last of Us". The grief which grows more malignant within the man eventually eats away at him, challenging him with his own mortality. His desperation to cling to life is done to ensure that his son can survive, although the specter of death always seems to haunt him. His journey to the shore is a struggle for him to maintain his hold on life. Like the remnants of the Earth, he is reluctant to embrace oblivion, a ghost serving as a guide, mentor, and guardian, clutching to the last vestiges of his life, what it could have been before the terrible event. His journey is one of letting go; he begins with his attempts to let go of his wife in his mind, his grief dragging him down into the abyss of despair. He parts with his last picture of her and his wedding band while on an overpass, looking down into the expanse beneath him, not wanting his sorrow to impede his protection over his son, literally sacrificing his dreams for him. It is sad then that the man cannot spare one drop of his tears for the story Ely implies about his own lost son. Somewhere deep down, the man sees himself in Ely, and believes that at some point, in the man's mind, Ely must have wavered for a second...and a second is sometimes all it takes. In the end, what is important is that a child can not only survive with the skills and lessons taught by a parent, but incorporate something of themselves into the teaching, something unique that defines them and makes them special, even at the end of the world.
Recommended for: Fans of a gripping and cathartic drama about a parent and child, about love and protection, and also about the lengths a father will go to ensure his legacy for his son, even when everything else in the world has fallen apart.