Directed by Australia’s own John Hillcoat, The Road is a brutally bleak, borderline misanthropic adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s brutally bleak, borderline misanthropic post-apocalyptic novel of the same name.  Admittedly, the end of the world is quite a depressing scenario, and credit must be given to Hillcoat (The Proposition) and his team for audaciously choosing not to dilute McCarthy’s abject words (which I  haven’t read). But without a glimmer of hope on the (burning) horizon, The Road inadvertently alienates itself from the audience it is so eager to milk emotion from, pandering primarily to McCarthy fans and those with suicidal tendencies.

The premise is simple; the apocalypse has happened. Why? Doesn’t matter. All that’s left to do now is survive.

This is what motivates a nameless father (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who was born into the dying world and knows no other reality. Flashbacks reveal that the two managed to endure the initial collapse of civilization by bunkering down in their Central American home, while the boy’s mother (Charlize Theron in more of a cameo role) gave up on life long ago.  Outside, the air is now a mixture of snow and ash, the streets are desolate wastelands and most of those who continue to defy death have resorted to cannibalism. The father and son, however, insist on “carrying the fire” of righteousness, painstakingly making their way down a treacherous road to the southern coastline where it is rumoured to be habitable.

You may be surprised to learn that The Road initially had me transfixed. The stripped-down nature of the story does well to keep the focus on the stirring father and son dynamic, Hillcoat initially squeezing our heart like it were a ripe pimple.  This is also a technically outstanding film; expect to see Javier Aguirresarobe’s haunting cinematography — of shocking real-world locales like a Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana — receive an Oscar nomination. I did, however, find the original music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis a tad overbearing.

The ladies mightn’t swoon like they did with his portrayal of Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, but Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence, Eastern Promises) delivers a sincere, often devastating, performance as the determined father. There isn’t a moment where we doubt that this is a man willing to do anything, anything, for his child. Playing opposite him is innocent-looking Kodi Smit-McPhee (Romulus, My Father), who never outshines Mortensen, but never gets lost in his shadow.  Much like his character, we’re plunged into this eerie world of decay with fresh eyes, forced to learn the rules the hard way; trust no one, keep moving, enjoy the little things. But before long, I too started to dread being there.

Watching McCarthy’s story unfold is a lot like listening to a brooding musician hold down the lowest key on a piano for two unrelenting hours; as you can imagine, the same disheartening drone starts to grow incredibly tiresome. This is a film with few surprises, just more and more of that one miserable note.  In fact, The Road might just be the first film to ever crack my ‘bleakness’ threshold, as by the half way point, I had completely detached myself from it emotionally. Consequently, the characters were dead to me long before the film ended. And thank God it ended.

Verdict:

The Road reminds me of Samuel Beckett’s renowned ‘tragicomedy’ Waiting for Godot…only without the comedy and any sense of hope. This is a film you’ll want to forget. Not because it’s poorly made, but because it’s such a downer.

[Rating:2.5/5]

– review originally posted 12/12/09

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