The Road

What a great movie. This post-apocalyptic world was one I could believe in, unlike anther movie I saw recently, The Book of Eli. This movie would actually incite some emotion from me as well, as I felt tension and anxiety as I became afraid that they were going to steal the son. The performances were also top notch, although I should say I am a terrible judge of acting ability. But Viggo, you could tell, had intensity in him.

The colour in the film was great too: without ever explaining what was causing the end of the world, or how things were going down afterwards, you could tell the devastation was rampant and consistent. All the yellows and browns were accented nicely by the colourful flashbacks, as if the world was slowly being consumed of life. You also got the fact that life was very tough in this world. Everybody is paranoid - "I wasn't following you, you were following me!" - and crazy. Cannibalism is rampant and you just want to stay away from everybody; as the man and boy need to investigate buildings for supplies, you are terrified they are going to run into somebody just waiting to munch on a femur.

The suicide/life angle was played out very nicely: when do you call it quits in this situation? Without being given a definite timeline, you are left to extract the age of the apocalypse based on the boy's age (which you are also guessing at). They come across numerous bodies, lives ended by one's own hand, others who have died a violent death, but none that seem to be dead from whatever induced this apocalypse. To me, the movie is sending an obvious message that we - humans - will always be responsible for our own demise.

There was also an excellent play on who is bad, and who is good. Put good and bad in italics, if it helps. As the movie begins, you identify that the man and boy are the good ones, that the people eating each other are bad. And this distinction is black and white; it is never this simple. How good can you be, when you need to be selfish to survive? You, i.e. humanity, can only survive when everyone is in it together. The line gets blurred as the characters progress, which is appreciated.

I was going to point out some comparisons between this and The Book of Eli, but I won't. For me, this was the superior movie in every respect, but I can understand how watching Denzel pull out insane moves on a group of creeps works better for that film (and audience?) and each has their place. As a fan of movie "worlds" I absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed this movie.