I've never really liked horror films. It's not that I don't like scary things I just don't find many horror films frighting. To be frighting you need to be engaging, you need to have characters that the audience cares about and most horror films fall far short in that respect. Also a dude with a knife? I own a gun. A living doll? I think I have the size advantage. A giant monster? I suppose that would be pretty scary but how many giant monsters are you really going to run into. Starving to death on a dying world while trying not to be eaten alive by roaming hoards of cannibals? That's terrifying. Humanity at it's desperate worst is exponentially scarier then any movie monster because we know it's real, we know that humans are capable of unspeakable horrors. Fortunately we also know that humans are capable of love, compassion, determination, and self-sacrifice.
The best and worst of humanity come together in The Road. I should clarify The Road is not a horror film, it does however have some exceedingly tense and frighting moments and earns it's R rating. Director John Hillcoat presents a bleak version of the future in the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name. This is a challenging, taxing film that transports you to possibly the most horrific post-apocalyptic future ever captured on film. The film follows a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) after an unnamed and unseen catastrophe has devastated the world. We're talking total devastation, plants, animals, humans, everything is either dead or dying. What few humans left are fighting for their very survival, many have chosen suicide, some have resorted to cannibalization. The Man refuses to give up and with iron determination and a willingness to die or kill for the safety of his son, The Man leads them southeast toward the ocean where he hopes the warmer climate and sea life may provide salvation, or at the very least, survival.
Along the way the pair must be ever vigilante against danger while always hunting for food, shelter, and any supplies that they can use. Shoes for example become a high priority when all the gasoline has been used, all the horses dead, and you have no choice but to walk everywhere. Of course, with food and supplies so limited the threat of other humans increases. Knowing what people will do to survive The Man trusts no one and every encounter with another living being is fraught with tension, fear, and doubt, if not full on terror. The boy on the other hand inexplicably trusts people and empathizes with them in the way that only a kid can. Even knowing how hard food is to come by he will gladly give some to a stranger and while this might stretch logic it transforms him into the embodiment of human kindness and generosity.
The Man could be any man just as the boy could be any kid. They're not special, there's no chosen one, no mutant powers, no badass warriors, and that's what makes these two special. They're each inspiring in their own way; the man in his die hard determination, his will to survive, his steadfast love and devotion to his son. The boy in his hope, his unwavering optimism, and his belief that mankind is by nature good and decent.
The cinematography, combined with the set and location design, perfectly captures the desolate mood. The landscape is dead and cold, everything you see looks dirty, old, and broken. The actors, costumers, and makeup artists also deserve a lot of credit for personifying people that have gone through hell and are stubbornly clinging to life. I can not stress how good Viggo Mortensen in this film. I mean, he's always good, but here he is amazing, he carries this film and that it works is in no small part because he sells it so convincingly. Charlize Theron and Robert Duvall also have small, but important rolls in the film. Theron plays The Man's wife and through flashbacks we see her fate and we recognize how easily anyone of us might have shared it, given the circumstances. Duvall is given less to do but brings a fantastic performance full of sorrow and age, you can see the pain he's endured etched in his face and in every word he speaks. Smit-McPhee can't measure up to the talent surrounding him but his performance is acceptable.
The Road is one of those films that while good, you know you won't want to watch to many times, it's too draining and grim. However, it's a film well worth watching and one that will stay with you for a long time.
-egs
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