The Road (2009)

The Road (2009)

5 word Summary

Family tries to survive disaster

Everything is long gone. Animals, plants, people, almost everything is has died in some sort of disaster. A man and his son are trying to go south in hopes it will be better there, or at least warmer. They walk along roads that are covered with cracks, trees, and cars, hoping to find food and anything else that can help them survive.

However food is not the only thing they have to worry about. Some other people have been able to survive as long as they have but have resorted to cannibalism. The man occasionally has flashbacks to their old life before the disaster and after. He remembers his wife and how much they loved each other before and how she slowly became hateful afterwards.

They two have a pistol, however they only have two bullets left. Which he says are for the two of them. Through flashbacks we learn they are saving the bullets to kill themselves if they are to be captured. The two continue walking toward the coast, with both good and bad luck following them, they try to survive.

The film is one of my favorites of 2009, I had a hard time deciding if this or Up in the Air would have my vote for Picture of the Year. However the Academy robbed this movie of all the awards and/or nominations it deserved. With 10 nominees for best picture it is wrong to not have picked The Road. Also the performances were great, from leading roles played by Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-Mcphee to the supporting roles of Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Robert Duval, everyone did fantastic.

The main place where this film was robbed by award shows was Cinematography. It is easily some of my favorite Cinematography work. Everything looks so dark, and gray and dead, yet has such good contrast. The visuals are amazing, every scene where you see them walking, the background looks so bleak yet beautiful and balanced. its hard to imagine it didn’t get nominated.

When I originally read the plot of the film I was worried. The whole thing about cannibalism made me think it was going to be ridiculous and zombie like, with people eating people raw or whatever. The film however was nothing like that. It was much more tastefully done than I had expected, and very realistic.

This movie also has, in my opinion, one of the tensest scenes I’ve seen. But I don’t want to tell you which one.

My only problem with the film is the ending which I find to be a bit of a cop out, or too easy. Not the end I was hoping for, but it didn’t really ruin if for me.

I’d suggest this film to pretty much anyone. Though the Pulitzer Prize winning book is written by the same guy as No Country for Old Men, I wouldn’t say you have to like one to like the other, or will hate one if you hate the other. They’re not alike at all (but I love both)

10/10