After being nominated for a
BAFTA but at the same time not showing much over here in the UK, The Road, is
something I don‘t want fellow cinema attendees to miss out on. Nearly a decade
since the unreal and iconic Lord Of the Rings trilogy, Viggo Mortensen who
played Aragorn is again sharing with us his impressive craft as an actor.
Set in the future where the
world is gradually dying, we see a young boy and his father (you never find out
their names) go about their day to day struggles of surviving, their looking to
get to the south coast in the belief that they might be able to find food, or
even set sail and discover another country which maybe has survivors. On the
way, their only home is a trolley which holds all their supplies. At the same
time they find themselves in various deadly situations; escaping gangs of
carnivores is just one of these. The film also cuts back and forth between the
times when his wife was alive and provides us the tensions and fears that mount
up between them.
Okay, so maybe this film
isn’t the most pleasant way to start the new year but I think in recent times
we have discovered there certainly is an audience for post apocalyptic
narrative: I Am Legend, The Book of Eli, both have massive followings and
brilliant write ups and also may I add that Mad Max 4 is on the way again,
affirming that this theme is more than catching along.
Another touching factor that
makes this film astonishing is the hard to note cameos from Guy Pearce and
Robert Duvall who both add the icing to the cake. Top to tail in mud playing
their roles combined with Viggo Mortensen makes for a real treat.
This really isn’t a family
film and most defiantly not something you should take your girlfriend to on
Valentines Day, but if you have a free day and an open mind, this film will
effortlessly suck you away into its mind blowing atmosphere. The music, the
images, and the day to day struggles of living without food, warmth, and most
of all, hope, really does add up to be a bitter yet satisfying watch.
