Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

What is it with all of these end-of-days movies? A couple weeks ago, it was 2012, and early into next year, we have LEGION (which I guess technically counts as pre-apocalypse) with Paul Bettany, and THE BOOK OF ELI, starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. And while 2012 is about hope and action in the face of near-certain death, author Cormac (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) McCarthy's THE ROAD is about something much more serious and believable--the final existence of life on Earth. Existing in a world set afire by unnamed forces (the biblical undercurrent runs very close to the surface here), this story is about the lengths people would go to when they are starving, when all the planet's animals are dead, water is poison, and the only meat available to them is that of other human beings. THE ROAD is certainly the grimmest movie of 2009, but there's an elegance and dignity to this telling of the novel (directed by THE PROPOSITION helmer John Hillcoat and adapted by Joe Penhall) that also makes it a work of great beauty in its own grey and haunting manner.

Viggo Mortensen plays Man (none of the characters have actual names), a stoic but loving father to Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee). The pair are walking skeletons making their way through America in search of anything to eat. Mortensen vows to never resort to cannibalism, but he also promises himself that if he and his son are ever in a situation where they themselves might be eaten, he will kill them with his only weapon, a pistol with a few bullets remaining. They make every effort to avoid all contact with other people, assuming they would be easy targets with scavengers. But as you might expect in a movie called THE ROAD, the many obstacles on the journey is the whole point. During the quieter moments as they drift in and out of sleep, Man has dreams/memories about his wife (known as Woman, played with the appropriate level of growing desperation by Charlize Theron). We see them on the day the world cataclysm begins, their reaction to the early days of the crisis, and how she ends up not traveling with them. It's as heartbreaking to watch as anything in a story filled with one heartbreak after another.

Along their journey to who knows where, perhaps somewhere they think there might be food or at least warmer temperatures, Man and Boy do come across several other people. Every person they meet holds their cards close, and often when they reveal even a little bit of their true nature, things get awfully horrifying. Garret Dillahunt plays Gang Member, who spots the pair and is clearly hungry for boy meat (perhaps in more ways than one). Michael Kenneth Williams (better known as Omar Little on "The Wire") plays The Thief and the still great Robert Duvall is Old Man, who can barely see or walk, but insists on traveling alone rather than risk his safety with the father and son. The two also come across unnamed characters who live in what can only be described as a house of death, in one of the scariest sequences in the move. Guy Pearce and Molly Parker arrive late in the story, offering the closest thing to hope Man and Boy have seen since this mess began. There's another sequence where the two find what appears to be a fallout shelter stocked with months' worth of food, water and other supplies, but all good things must come to an end.

The individual run-ins in THE ROAD aren't really the point. What I liked best about the film are the in between father-son moments, where Mortensen is attempting to teach Boy survival, thinking, common sense and self defense, even though the kid is clearly in a constant mild state of shock and barely speaks. I'm not entirely sure that newcomer Smit-McPhee was the greatest choice for the role of Boy, but he certainly doesn't play the role the way a lot of more seasoned Hollywood child actors might have. His fear comes across as exceedingly real, and that's the key.

As he did with THE PROPOSITION, director Hillcoat has built a complete landscape and backdrop for his characters to inhabit and react to. This one is all about utter bleakness. You will likely come out of THE ROAD depressed and hungry, and that would mean that Hillcoat has done his job admirably. It may be a challenge to identify or connect with these characters (even Man and Boy), but when you do and you even attempt to imagine what their "lives" are like in this world, your heart will ache. As I often do with movies, I tried to imagine how I would handle existing under these desolate conditions, and I actually had to stop myself from doing so because I knew I would have been dead long before the events in this movie take place. That's a tough burden to bear as audience member, but I think the experience is worth it.

THE ROAD is an emotional journey unlike any other this year, primarily because by nature of the story it never stops being oppressively heavy. Man and Boy aren't looking for a place where all of their needs will be fulfilled; they know there is no such place. We have to imagine they are seeking a place to die comfortable, where human vultures won't devour them upon their deaths. That's pretty bleak for a holiday release, but anchored on the strength of Mortensen's performance and a visual context unlike any I've seen, THE ROAD succeeds at capturing the proper mood and emotionally weighty backdrop required for such a story. It's heavy stuff, folks, but when you come out the other side and walk back out into the world, you may see it in an entirely different light.

-- Capone
therealcapone@aintitcoolmail.com
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