In a moment the world changed forever.

Like so many others, I read Cormac McCarthy’s outstanding novel a few years ago and was moved and impressed by his language and the emotions of the story. When I heard that it would be made into a movie I was skeptical because the way McCarthy uses his words is more or less impossible to transfer to film. Originally slated for a November, 2008 release this adaptation has been pushed back in the schedule a few times, but obviously not for being a disastrous film. It is very faithful to the novel, somewhat of a highly respectable “illustrated classic”.

A man and his young son (Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smith-McPhee) are pushing a shopping cart full of whatever useful items they can find down a dirty road. They’re not an anomaly – ever since a huge catastrophic event killed most people and wiped out every structure of society mankind has ever built, the few survivors are all hobos, always looking for something to eat, always trying to hide from gangs who are roaming the country, robbing and even eating their victims. This has been going on for several years and the boy was born shortly after the apocalypse when the man and his wife (Charlize Theron) were still together, trying to survive in their house. Tired, hungry and dirty, the man and his son know where to look for food and when to avoid the road and its dangers. As their journey continues, the man becomes increasingly frail and tries to teach the boy how to take care of himself the day when he longer has a father.

Director John Hillcoat previously made another dystopia, The Proposition (2005), which I’m sure was the reason why he landed this gig. From that film he brought along Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to write the music score, and Guy Pearce who has a key supporting role near the end of the film. The Road is also relentlessly dark in most aspects, but there’s hope in the end just like in the book and Hillcoat pulls it off without getting too schmaltzy. Still, the misery is very tangible. The landscape is barren, cold and muddy (sadly, it looks like winter where I live) and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe bathes it in a stark, gray, almost black-and-white light. The movie makes an obvious point that humans may be programmed with a desire to survive, but death is without a doubt a relief. Horrifyingly realistic, the most startling scene takes place in an abandoned mansion. The cast makes sure that we care about the few good guys that are left; young Smit-McPhee is a good choice to play the boy, but Mortensen and Duvall are quite powerful. The former looks emaciated from starvation and always having to worry about the kid; the latter is virtually unrecognizable, steeped in filth, delivering one of his now trademark geezer performances that becomes highly effective.

The film lacks something that prevents it from being outstanding and I suppose it is the fact that it doesn’t really do anything special that separates it from the novel. A comparison with another film based on a McCarthy novel, No Country for Old Men (2007), shows that the Coen brothers truly made that movie look like a work of their imagination. Still, Hillcoat’s film is a nightmare worth having.

The Road 2009-U.S. 110 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Paula Mae Schwartz, Steve Schwartz, Nick Wechsler. Directed by John Hillcoat. Screenplay: Joe Penhall. Novel: Cormac McCarthy. Cinematography: Javier Aguirresarobe. Music: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis. Cast: Viggo Mortensen (The Man), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Boy), Robert Duvall (The Old Man), Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Molly Parker.

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Published 2009-12-01 11:12