The Road :Certificate (15)

PlotSome years after an unspecified apocalypse which has killed all animal and plant life on Earth, a man (Mortensen) and his son (Smit-McPhee) trudge wearily through a devastated, lawless America, now overrun by gangs of cannibals.

To say that The Road is a grim watch is an understatement in the extreme.But it is also a film about the best in us too ,about our capacity to love and care ! One of first scenes in the film has Viggo Mortensons father figure showing his son ,if all else fails how to end his own life with a single shot to the head.This is the world they exist in , a shattered ,destroyed planet where some unexplained disaster has layed waste to everything, no fuel, food , light ,animals ,heat or reason ,everyone is desperate and willing to go to whatever lengths they have to to survive. Redneck gangs of cannibals run rampant as food supplies are none existent rubbish bins full of human bones fill the streets ,there seems no hope for survival, but the hope of a father for his sons life to continue shines through the darkness.Based on Cormac McCarthys devastating novel The Road . The worlds end is not , in Director John Hillcoats hands a nightmare intended to thrill such as the likes of 2012 or Day after Tomorrow , his apocalypse is one of dead trees, ashen soil ,brush fires , smoked filled skies and merciless storms. The brutal gangs that roam looking for more food for their human larder of naked shivering prey, show no mercy whether it be man woman or child .Viggo Mortenson has invested all his physical and emotional strength in making The Man convince and compel as a parent struggling to raise his child properly under unthinkable extreme circumstances. Charlize Theron is compelling in her cameo as the mother of said child unable to go on in the face of impending doom.Smit-Mcphee playing the young boy is at once believable and is the innocent heart of the film , his desire to be a good person in the light of all that has happened in his short life gives the film hope for the human race, or whats left of it .The relationship and tender moments between father and son ache with emotion and are as important as any of Hillcoats grey visions of despair.

A tough watch but ultimately worth the journey, One of the most chilling , effective visions of the worlds demise ever put on screen , and a heartbreaking study of parenthood.

Rating :9/10

Created by Paul White (Ragnarfan)08/02/2010