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The Road, based on the book by Cormac McCarthy, tells a desperate tale of survival in a post-apocalyptic world. We watch a nameless father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) cross the charred landscape heading south to find the “good people” and attempt to avoid the cannibals and thieves who stalk the road. The world is barren and covered in ash. It is a world where suicide is the only alternative and, at many points, is preferred.
The film expresses a tender suffering that blurs the line between good and evil. In the son we see what little evidence of hope and humanity the world has left, while both are steadily drained from his dying father. Although we know that our main characters are “the good guys”, in a place of such terror, good and evil can not be so different.
The Road is a touching portrayal of incredible horror. However, Joe Penhall omits certain defining moments of terror originally in the book, such as a description of a baby’s corpse prepared for eating. Instead he chooses to focus on the relationships between father and son; the son and his world. Penhall manages to keep the dark, desperate tones of the book but, naturally, by neglecting moments in the book’s story, something is lost.
Despite the graphic illustrations of death and pain, one of the most harrowing and difficult ideas is the father instructing his son on the correct suicide technique using a pistol. In dangerous times, the father puts the gun, with its single remaining bullet, to his son’s head but each time is unable to kill him; or, in the context of the film, save him. Viggo Mortensen’s stunning portrayal of this fractured maturity and hopeless determination is heart-breaking.
Unlike apocalyptic films such as The Day After Tomorrow and 2012, The Road does not shout its warning. We see no famous landmarks fall or even any reasons, only the result. In a moment of despair, the father cries at his son that by protecting him, he is the one who must carry the burden. The son shouts back that, no, it is he who carries this weight as he will soon have to survive on his own: a particularly poignant message in current times.
In a film of so much sadness, we are given as happy an ending as is possible. However, it is so sugary and inconsistent with the themes of the story, it doesn’t seem to fit. This intelligent finish is made so sweet that it tastes bitter: we know the story will not really end well.
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