Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son crossing a desolate and dangerous America was almost instantly viewed as a classic on publication in 2006, and so a film version of the book has a lot to live up to. Additionally, considering its grim subject matter, dealing as it does with famine, suicide and even cannibalism, director John Hillcoat, the man behind the rather fine Australian western The Proposition, had a hard job on his hands getting the project to the screen and it has already faced numerous delays, but now here it is, just in time for awards season (not that it will receive much if any recognition, being far too dark and containing scant amounts of the uplifting, inspiring messages that are the requirements of award-winning drama), as well as a surprising recent trend of end of the world movies.
As he is unable to transfer one of the most celebrated aspects of the novel - its sparse yet stylish prose - to the screen, Hillcoat instead opts to include an elegantly mournful score by his Proposition collaborator Nick Cave and Cave’s Bad Seeds band-mate Warren Ellis (which is gorgeous, but not much removed from their work on The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), and shoot the film in a stark grey light. The effect of the latter gives The Road more the feel of a drizzly British afternoon rather than apocalyptic horror (the debris scattered beach that greets the father and son as they reach the coast will be a familiar sight to anyone who’s ever been to an English seaside resort in the off-season), and this reflects a larger problem with the film. Unlike the crowd pleasing heroics of the typical disaster movie, The Road’s vision of the apocalypse is a realistic one of uncertainty and boredom, which although beautifully evoked, makes for a less exciting narrative. The sense of under-population in this world also means that there aren’t many characters the father and son can meet on their journey and as a result the plot doesn’t have much room to develop beyond the obvious - the film’s central question, as to whether keeping faith in humanity is a wise choice, or even possible in desperate times, is an interesting one, but it’s not unique or particularly surprising. In another attempt to make such a difficult film seem appealing to a wider audience - and perhaps a reflection of the book’s reverential status - many of the parts are played by well-known actors, and although they approach their roles with a pleasing lack of vanity (in particular Viggo Mortensen as the father looks convincingly and heartbreakingly haggard), it’s somewhat distracting to have cameos from Charlize Theron in flashbacks as the now-deceased mother, or Robert Duvall as a drifter they meet along the way.
All that being said, although The Road is an extremely difficult sell that would only ever appeal to a niche audience, offering as it does very little in the way of ‘entertainment’ or hopeful messages about the goodness of humanity, it is an engaging, heart-rending, and occasionally visceral and terrifying watch, the cathartic effects of which will stay in the mind for long after the film has finished.
