A long time coming

My apologies friends for being so long in sending another review your
way. Haven't felt up to writing in quite a while. With that said here
is my ( rather short, long overdue ) review of The Road.

For man so loved his son, he gave himself.

"No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes. So, he whispered to the sleeping boy. I have you."
The Road is, perhaps the greatest love story ever written. The story of a man ( played to perfection by Viggo Mortenson ) and his son, who he ( arguably ) loves more than God loved Jesus, moving through this post apocalyptic country to the coast.

The Road is a film filled with empty cities
and barren country sides. These empty
spaces fight the characters at every
turn, for the camera's attention and their lives. This is a film
that takes some getting used to because of the immense sadness
that fills every iota of the screen. But once you do, it carries you
away on an epic journey to find any remaining life on this
planet that God has forgotten.

That being said, this film contains some of the most striking
images you will ever see. The land is naked, stripped of its
vibrant greens and blues, replaced with muddy grays and
browns. These however, because of the perfect cinematography,
are almost made to look picturesque. As though the characters
are traveling through a modern day decrepit Wonderland.

The film is a great character study on people after civilization
has gone away. Every person in the movie exhibits a great
loneliness, whether traveling in a pack or marching alone down
abandoned roads and through lifeless fields. There is a sort of
deadness in their eyes "You forget what you want to remember,
and you remember what you want to forget" When they meet an
old blind man on the road ( beautifully embodied by Robert Duvall )
he tells them about his son who seems more than a lifetime away
and how he simply exists moving onward with no hope. The Man
( Mortenson ) asks "Do you ever wish you would die?" The Old
Man replies "No. It's foolish to ask for luxuries in times like these. "

I will not ruin the ending but suffice it to say, it is bittersweet both
for the characters and us, the viewers. That being said, it is truly
the only way one could expect it to end, with the past and the future
behind them, what is left?