The Road

The H-Bomb: The entire planet has been devastated by some unspecified catastrophic event. All of the animal life and most of the plant life has been completely destroyed. Society has collapsed and human beings have, for the most part, regressed back to a savage state, often resorting to cannibalism in order to survive.

Wandering through this ugly, barren, post-apocalyptic world are a Father (Viggo Mortensen) and his young Son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who struggle to get by any way they can, while trying to maintain their own humanity in this literal Hell-on-Earth.

From the above synopsis, it’s pretty fair to say that this is not a candidate for “Feel Good Movie of the Year.” In fact, if anything, it’s a shoo-in for “Most Depressing Movie of the Decade,” right alongside “Children of Men”, “Million Dollar Baby”, and “Sex and the City 2”. Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy (“No Country For Old Men”),  “The Road” is dark, grim, and relentlessly downbeat, with practically no moments of levity to be found anywhere.

That said, it’s a beautifully made, thought provoking film that examines two key aspects of human nature: hope and survival. The Father and Son struggle so hard to survive in this brutal, frightening, desolate world. A world that is devoid of any hope for any kind of a positive future, that I had to ask myself, “Why? Why are they even bothering?” The Father even carries around an old revolver, loaded with only two bullets, one for him, and one for his Son. Yet we get the sense that no matter how dire things get, he will never be able to bring himself to use it.

It’s the undefined hope, the vague notion that there is something better out there, that motivates these two to forge ahead. That, to me, is the ultimate point of this story; even in the worst situations imaginable, ones that would cause many to revert back to barbaric savagery, there are good people who will always retain hope, and the will to survive.

As directed by John Hillcoat- who made the equally bleak Aussie western “The Proposition”- the film has an appropriately cold, dreary, colorless look to it. It’s the look of a cruel, dying world, and was perfect in selling the shear desperation of its inhabitants. As the Father, Viggo Mortensen is excellent, as he is in everything, even in shit like the “Psycho” remake. Here he is perfect as a calloused, hardened man who is only driven on by his love for his Son.

Young Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee is also terrific as a boy who has grown up in this shit hole of a world, which has forced him to mature beyond his years. Charlize Theron appears in flashbacks as Mortensen’s practical, but not exactly sympathetic wife, and Robert Duvall has a poignant cameo as an old loner who the Father and Son meet on the road. But for most of the film, the Father and Son are alone on screen, as they scrounge around for food, seek out safe places to sleep and stay warm, and of course, avoid those nasty, unpleasant cannibal gangs.

Again, this ain’t no date movie. This is an incredibly dark, depressing film that is not for everyone. It’s a very difficult movie to enjoy and many will come out of it feeling like they’ve just been to a funeral (or like they’ve just spent a weekend with their in-laws). However, for those of you who look for more in a film than just two hours of car chases, explosions, and fart jokes, I would say that “The Road” is a journey that is very much worth your time.