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There's something about scarcity that focuses the mind. In the context of The Road's characters, it means that a lack of food has made them single-minded in their fight for survival and sustenance. In terms of the story, it means that a lack of characters and cinematic adornment leaves us only to ponder the two of them; the Man, and the Boy. And the road they travel on.
The Road is set in some all-too-near future where the landscape indicates an apocalypse of some kind, but flashbacks give us only rough clues as to how and why it took place. The specifics are unimportant, and thus unexplained. The Man (Viggo Mortenson) tells the Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) that they're heading to the coast to see if it's warmer there, though one gets the impression that the idea is merely to have somewhere to go.
The world herein is far bleaker than those who have suffered a simple loss of civilization or infrastructure. Living itself has been lost; the sun is blotted out by an infinite gray fog, and nothing will grow. There is nothing to rebuild with; only things to salvage. This may seem a small distinction when compared to other post-apocalyptic tales, but it informs every horrific episode.
As horrific as the events in The Road are, the film is punctuated by equally agonizing flashbacks, to a time just before all hope had been lost. We see the Man's wife (Charlize Theron), and we deduce that something in the past must eventually explain her absence in the present. But this inevitability is beside the point; it is how each character meets their doom that tells us the most about them. There is a scene in the 1968 classic The Lion in Winter where Prince Geoffrey mocks his brother's sense of pride as they sit together in a dungeon. "You chivalric fool," he says. "As if the way one fell down mattered." Prince Richard replies: "When the fall is all there is, it matters."
With this role, Viggo Mortenson adds to his reputation as one of the most fearless actors of his generation. He carries the film, and there's scarcely a scene where he isn't required to describe an indescribable sorrow. Mortenson has a penchant for immersive method acting, and allegedly prepared for the role by eating crickets. Based on his gaunt appearance, it would surprise me to learn that he ate much else.
The screenplay is a faithful adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, which he wrote shortly after becoming a father late in life. There are many possible ways to interpret the source material and McCarthy's reasons for writing it. My own is this: every parent must come to grips with the fact that they cannot protect their child from everything that may come. They can only prepare them to meet it well.
The Road is not enjoyed; it is endured. The thoughts it inflicts on us occasionally feel more suited to the Torture Porn genre, but an undercurrent of somberness prevents any of it from feeling exploitative. The film almost seems to despair along with us, as if to say "we don't wish this to be true any more than you do, but it is." The scarcity on screen is not just that of food or characters. Humanity itself is scarce, but its lacking serves to highlight what little is left.
Films like this defy traditional rating systems because they perfectly achieve such depressing goals. The Road seems to successfully invoke every feeling it wants to, but is limited in scope to the point at which even success is dubious. It's certainly a triumph of execution, but it often feels like watching one.
The Road is set in some all-too-near future where the landscape indicates an apocalypse of some kind, but flashbacks give us only rough clues as to how and why it took place. The specifics are unimportant, and thus unexplained. The Man (Viggo Mortenson) tells the Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) that they're heading to the coast to see if it's warmer there, though one gets the impression that the idea is merely to have somewhere to go.
The world herein is far bleaker than those who have suffered a simple loss of civilization or infrastructure. Living itself has been lost; the sun is blotted out by an infinite gray fog, and nothing will grow. There is nothing to rebuild with; only things to salvage. This may seem a small distinction when compared to other post-apocalyptic tales, but it informs every horrific episode.
As horrific as the events in The Road are, the film is punctuated by equally agonizing flashbacks, to a time just before all hope had been lost. We see the Man's wife (Charlize Theron), and we deduce that something in the past must eventually explain her absence in the present. But this inevitability is beside the point; it is how each character meets their doom that tells us the most about them. There is a scene in the 1968 classic The Lion in Winter where Prince Geoffrey mocks his brother's sense of pride as they sit together in a dungeon. "You chivalric fool," he says. "As if the way one fell down mattered." Prince Richard replies: "When the fall is all there is, it matters."
With this role, Viggo Mortenson adds to his reputation as one of the most fearless actors of his generation. He carries the film, and there's scarcely a scene where he isn't required to describe an indescribable sorrow. Mortenson has a penchant for immersive method acting, and allegedly prepared for the role by eating crickets. Based on his gaunt appearance, it would surprise me to learn that he ate much else.
The screenplay is a faithful adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, which he wrote shortly after becoming a father late in life. There are many possible ways to interpret the source material and McCarthy's reasons for writing it. My own is this: every parent must come to grips with the fact that they cannot protect their child from everything that may come. They can only prepare them to meet it well.
The Road is not enjoyed; it is endured. The thoughts it inflicts on us occasionally feel more suited to the Torture Porn genre, but an undercurrent of somberness prevents any of it from feeling exploitative. The film almost seems to despair along with us, as if to say "we don't wish this to be true any more than you do, but it is." The scarcity on screen is not just that of food or characters. Humanity itself is scarce, but its lacking serves to highlight what little is left.
Films like this defy traditional rating systems because they perfectly achieve such depressing goals. The Road seems to successfully invoke every feeling it wants to, but is limited in scope to the point at which even success is dubious. It's certainly a triumph of execution, but it often feels like watching one.