THE ROAD (2009) is not really worth the schlep

Posted by Daniel Metz

After much goading by Stephen, I finally saw a matinee of this post-apocalyptic thriller. Was I disappointed? Although I had very low expectations for this picture, I was still let down. The allegory about a destructed civilization and the survival instinct left me pining for better films.

Yes, the picture looked alright. The very bleak setting made the film seem quite gray and desolate. But wasn’t this done with more wit and success in the little-appreciated film from 2006, Wristcutters: A Love Story? For those of you who haven’t seen that brilliant little comedy, please stop reading and watch it. Then you can read the rest later.

The story is about a man and his boy trying disgustingly to survive in a world of danger and little hope. In that respect it felt like a zombie film, except of course that the monsters are fellow humans and not brain-hungry undead. So, it’s a story about humanity at an extreme, and the survival instinct being confronted by man’s truly horrific, inhumane nature. But wasn’t this done with more terror and truth in one of the best films from 2008, Blindness?

That film, which I bet Stephen STILL hasn’t seen after over a year of my suggestions, too is about love and protection, but it is less obvious, sentimental and, frankly, black and white. It’s contemporary setting, also, makes the allegory that much more poignant.

Father and son bonding never looked so mean-spirited.

Furthermore, the entire premise of the film I sort of disagree with. Why is the family unit even bothering? Throughout my viewing of the film, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that life is not worth living under those horrible conditions. Suicide as an option is brought up repeatedly, and I vote in favor of it. It seems cowardly to try to be heroic and survive. What’s the use? If you can never be happy, why should you go on stomping through the rain and the mud?

A few minor comments: Charlize Theron, who plays a haunting spectre in this film, is her usual husky self. Has Theron ever played a beautiful character? She always seems so damned ugly to me. Also, if this film is about morality, as the constant dichotomy of good guys vs. bad guys suggests, what is it really getting at? Are we to take from this film that we should try to be generous and loving? What does that get you? Widowed/motherless, starving and desperate, and ultimately dead on a beach.

There is some hope, of course. After the young boy’s father croaks on the shore (and it’s all very moving, let me tell ‘ya), a family miraculously appears that is willing to take him in, feed him, and protect him. I guess we always have that to fall back on.

Guess who's coming to rape 'ya?

Actually, as I typed that, I thought of an alternate interpretation of the ending: maybe the family is just the little boy’s illusion, and he is really being raped and eaten by the savage, pickup truck driving villains. That is an ending I can really get behind.