‘THE ROAD’
“The Road” suggests what life is like when the end is near. It’s not pretty.
No wonder the studio distributing “The Road,” a $20 million production ready for release a year ago, delayed the opening date. This grim tale, which is well acted by 41-year-old Viggo Mortensen (the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy) and 13-year-old Kodi Smit-McPhee (“Romulus, My Father”), who play characters known only as Man and Boy, offers a glimmer of hope at the end.
That’s of small comfort, however, due to the strong case the equally compelling and depressing film makes for the possibility of disaster, destruction and death striking at any moment.
Based on Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel (2006), the R-rated film unfolds in a post-apocalyptic landscape after an unknown event has transformed the planet into a gray dust bowl in which the air itself serves as a toxic reminder of the planet’s hostile condition. Most survivors struggle to exist and often turn to their worst impulses, such as cannibalism, which becomes prevalent due to food shortages.
Distrust of others runs rampant in a bleak universe where nothing is safe and everything seems on the edge of extinction.
At its core, “The Road” ranks as a touching father-son story about the responsibility of being a parent and making every effort – no matter how complex and dangerous the challenges – to protect the child from harm and ensure that his life continues. The world of Man, whose wife, Woman (Charlize Theron of “Monster”), surrendered to her fears and allowed herself to die rather than embark on a seemingly hopeless quest to find a better place to exist, revolves around his child.
He draws inspiration from Boy as they travel south in hopes of finding warmer temperatures but having no idea what actually awaits them. Man’s sense of responsibility is staggering, and, in a riveting performance, Mortensen imbues the tragic character with equal measures of bravery, desperation and sorrow.
During “The Road,” Boy suggests sharing some of their modest provisions with others, an act that Man sees as weak and capable of destroying them. The parent initially views hoarding and hiding as a way of keeping his son alive, though the story questions what’s gained if the teen is turned into the type of flesh-eating predator who survives by surrendering his humanity.
Director John Hillcoat, who previously created a threatening landscape in his visually striking Australian frontier tale “The Proposition,” presents a barren and unwelcoming world. It’s an indifferent universe where the price of staying alive can mean surrendering all of the emotions that make life worth living.
FILM REVIEW
‘The Road”
Grade: B+
Running Time: 119 minutes.
Parental Guide: R rating (some violence, disturbing images, language, brief nudity).