Rama's Screen

THE ROAD is a faithful adaptation. As a hardcore fan of the great book by author Cormac McCarthy, I am satisfied. But even if I didn’t read the book, I’d still say director John Hillcoat’s adaptation is a chilling and beautiful journey filled with anguish and strength of the human spirit and love of a father. The gray dusty skies and the ugly desolate wasteland that Hillcoat visualizes are… pitch-perfect. Viggo Mortensen is riveting, another Oscar worthy performance by an actor who can disappear in his character. The same outstanding praise can be said for Kodi Smit McPhee, Robert Duvall, even Michael K. Williams

Based on Cormac McCarthy’s beloved, best-selling and Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen leads an all star cast in the big screen adaptation of “The Road” – the epic post apocalyptic tale of a journey taken by a father (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee) across a barren landscape that was blasted by an unnamed cataclysm that destroyed civilization and most life on earth.

I entered the cinema with an open mind, like I’ve never read the book before and I was not disappointed. The CG visual of the post-apocalyptic world itself would leave you in awe. There are no zombies or mutants, this is not a Roland Emmerich’s film where everything literally goes into epileptic shock. With THE ROAD, director Hillcoat wants you to feel the despair all around you just by looking at the bleak littered environment of a dying planet where animals can’t survive, even trees are falling down all by themselves like a balding head. It’s father and son, or as the book says, a man and a boy, walking on what seems to be an endless road, from one abandoned place to another in search of food and shelter. The man wants them to reach South, to reach the coast, but it’s not because there’s a safe haven there, I think it’s more because he understands that one of the keys to survival is to have something to look forward to, in this case, a destination. But even after that point, he knows they’d have to keep on going again.

Great music by composers Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, the same team behind the score for The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. I’d just like to take the time to point that out because even if THE ROAD doesn’t have a specific catchy theme music that stands out and sticks with you, but each tune carries a fateful harmony to the harrowing, vehement travel that the father and son have to endure. When danger is upon them, the heart starts pumping, the beat is rushing and when it’s time to behold the wonder and hypnotic beauty that strangely appear out of the harsh conditions, the solemn tunes offer solitude and assurance.

Director Hillcoat may seem to put too much emphasis on the flashbacks, the background story of the wife, the mother of the boy. But I think it’s an essential part only because the movie gives you different types of people and their reactions when they’re cornered, the choice to give in, give up or survive and the different ways they’d do just to survive.Some would strive, some would steal, some put their trust on strangers and some would resort to cannibalism. It’s not showing us how the end of the world happens, it’s about what happens after and all the effect, whether it’s good or bad, that it has on the remainder.
But this isn’t The Postman or Waterworld, there’s no one man trying to topple a dictator.

Can we be helpful to others when we don’t have much to give? When the only thing we got left is our only chance for living? When it comes down to it, is it an eye for an eye or is there room left for compassion? Those are some of the questions THE ROAD tries to tackle as the kid starts to see that his father can’t seem to tell the difference anymore but little does he know that the father is insistent on preparing the kid to survive on his own after he’s dead.

I can’t say enough about Viggo Mortensen, there’s something about Mortensen’s face or presence in this movie that indicates a man willing to do whatever it takes to protect his son. There’s a certain intensity that radiates from Mortensen, the kind that catches your attention and doesn’t let go. His dedication to his character, even losing drastic weight and looking like a complete hobo will earn your respect but his final moments at the beach is what will not only break your heart but place Mortensen as one of the most deeply affecting actors of our time.
The caliber Robert Duvall gives an equally great performance, which is to be expected when you’re dealing with a master of the art of acting like Duvall. Michael K. Williams who plays The Thief leaves a haunting, heartwrenching impression, for just those few minutes, he manages to go straight for the jugular.

THE ROAD is a must-see film not only because it stays true to the original material. I’m glad director Hillcoat doesn’t tone down the gore, the fright and the heartless natural conditions. But THE ROAD is a must-see film also because its message of the meaningless of materialism speaks louder than words or actions. Seeing two people scraping every last bit of food they can find and scavenging through metals sheets and garbage while other people being hunted down for their flesh will give you an appreciation for what you already have in life especially your relationships. It’s so easy to half-wish Mortensen would just be putting a bullet in his son’s head so he can be traveling alone without pressure or anything holding him back or slowing him down but his son is his only reason for traveling. As the story progresses, you see him able to sometimes let go of the cart full of food or let go of his past and the memory of his wife, in order to ensure the safety of his son. Life doesn’t get more significant the one depicted in THE ROAD.

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