At the Movies with Fatwayne

Can you say “depressing”? Can you say “dreary”? Can you say “hopeless”? Can you say “sad”? Well,  if you can, you just described this movie. That’s right, it was all of these things and not much more. I saw two people walk out of the matinee as a result of the unrelenting gloom proffered by this story and the way it was filmed. Although shot in color, between the snow, rain, ashes and the barren and dead landscape, it seemed like a black and white movie. Not only this, but to make matters worse there are no ambient sounds like the chirp of birds or the noise of the road, etc. All of the dialogue was delivered almost in a whisper.

It is the story of a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) in their desperate struggle for survival in a post apocalyptic world made even worse with the existence of roving bands of cannibals and starving people. Mankind has been reduced to its basest level and it is a survive at any cost mentality that prevails. There are acts of kindness shown in the movie but they are rare for the most part.

Viggo as the “man” and Kodi as the “boy” do credible jobs of acting. Robert Duvall as the old dying man was hardly recognizable until he spoke and lent some thoughtfulness to the film. Charlize Theron appears via flashbacks as the deceased wife. She continues to amaze me as she looks different in every film. Even in this bleak movie she can not hide her remarkable beauty no matter how hard she tries.

As an interesting aside, the film was partially shot on Mount St. Helens and post Katrina New Orleans to give that devastated look to the story. This certainly succeeded, as I mentioned earlier, in delivering a sense of gloom and doom to the situation.

If you visit this site on a regular basis you undoubtedly know that one of my criteria for declaring a movie successful is how I feel upon exiting the theater. I didn’t feel very good after seeing this movie! It was just too somber for the holidays.

Quotes are posted at   http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/theroad.htm

Rated  – R -

Fatwayne’s Rating   -    -