The Road

Watched The Road last night, which is a film from 2009 based on a Cormac McCarthy novel. The movie stars Vigo Mortensen and saw a very limited release in the United States. It’s just been released to theaters here in Stockholm, but it’s a very low profile release with very little publicity.

The Road, is very bleak and depressing film that is set after civilization has collapsed and as the world is coming to an end. The Earth is no longer able to sustain life, animals have perished, the tress are dying, and so is man. The few men and women that are still alive have resorted to scavenging deserted cities and homes for what little food they can find, others have fallen into cannibalistic tribes that hunt for and eat other humans. In The Road Vigo Mortensen, who plays the unnamed protagonist is trying to make his way to the coastline with his son, in hopes of finding better conditions or other “good” people like them.

This film is the type of movie that really hits you hard when you see it. The type of film that completely leaves your mood altered after you finish watching it. I have not read the novel but from what others have said the film follows the general mood and feeling of the book with great detail. It’s definitely not a film for everyone. I can relate it to two films that I also really liked that had a strong affect on me. The first one is Darren Aronofsky’s A Requiem For A Dream, which is a film I remember hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I saw it. The second is Alfonso Cuarón’s Children Of Men, which shares a very similar bleak theme but is a bit lighter and easier to digest.

Performance wise I think Vigo Mortensen did a fantastic job. He’s an actor that I’ve never particularly cared for. It’s not that his past performances have been bad, but he’s never blown me away. In The Road he gives a solid performance, which is really aided by and heightened by the bleakness of the film. The cinematography is pretty good, it’s not mind blowing like Children Of Men’s camera work was, however I think the director of photography did a fantastic job in creating a world that seemed desolate, decaying, and slowly dying.

If you’re a film buff or if you aren’t scared of sitting down and watching a film that is not at all light hearted then I recommend watching The Road. It’s a good film and it will leave you thinking and contemplating the world that you just saw.

You can check out the trailer bellow: