Road, The

Times are tough. That’s just the way it is. The world moves in cycles. One day you’re up and the next day you’re not. And they will probably be tough for a while. But eventually the lean years will be over and things will get better. There are lots of doomsday prophecies out there these days. They scare a lot of people, and most others don’t really care. But no matter what is going on in the real world nothing could possible be any worse than the fate of mankind in “The Road.”

“The Road” is bleak. You don’t need me to tell you that; word of mouth has already spread and it’s an understatement. Based on the acclaimed book of the same name, the movie is no different. There is absolutely no shred of hope in this film. Stark doesn’t even begin to cover it. It is single handedly the least hopeful view of society’s future you could come up with. In the film the world as we know it has fallen victim to a host of natural calamities that have destroyed the plants and subsequently the animals. The ecosystems have collapsed and humans are alone, desperate for food. The film is about a man and his young son as he tries to raise him in this unrelenting and harsh world. The worst thing about this disaster is how it robs people of their humanity. People have to choose between their conscience and survival. This happens in our world too, probably everyday in every part of the globe, and its truly sad. The man and his son are trying to get to the coast and have a series of encounters that illuminate the severity of the situation. There is very little plot in the film, which is really the only problem. There is no external conflict, that is the man and the boy are always able to elude whatever peril they happen upon or they never get too close to be in real danger in the first place. And these events aren’t meant to be anything more than there to show the audience what has happened to the world. But it is heavy with character development. The story hinges on how the characters will cope, and if they will maintain their sense of what’s right in spite of their torturous existence. The acting in the film is genuinely good, but I expect nothing else from Viggo Mortensen. All the cameo appearances are also good, including one by Robert Duvall and especially Michael K. Williams. The directing is always there to remind you how awful things are. There are amazingly composed shots of desolation. You would be hard pressed to find a color other than grey in the whole film.

The film overall is really good, but I wish more happened. We are treated to a window into another world. Indeed a world that no one wants to imagine. It’s a brutal world, but you only see glimmers of it. If something more could have actually happened, that is if the characters would have been put in some actual danger or if maybe they would have shown us the true horrors of this world instead of implying them then there would be more to it. I don’t know if this would make the film better necessarily but either way this film feels like its missing something. It is just short of being great. I may feel different after repeat viewing, of which I’m certain I will have. But if I had to compare it to a similarly disturbing and cynical view of mankind, “Blindness,” I would say that “Blindness” offers a more believable and more effective story. So if you’re in the mood to be super depressed for a while then go see either of these two movies.