When The Road was expected to be released in November 2008, it was receiving plenty of Oscar buzz.  That’s not surprising considering the pedigree.  Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy, the author who also wrote No Country for Old Men, the adaptation of which took home the grand prize at the Oscar ceremony less than a year previous, The Road just screams Oscar.  Unfortunately, the film’s release date was pushed back nearly a year due to post-production issues and now the fanfare seems to have died down some.  Can the film itself win its buzz back?  Unfortunately, that is asking an awful lot, especially of a film with such a depressing premise.

The action takes place in an undetermined future after a non-specific catastrophe has scorched the planet, leaving only a few human survivors among the grey, ashy remains of the planet.  It must be about ten years after the cataclysmal event, as that’s about how I’d estimate the age of the young boy who was born after the tragedy.  Abandoned by a mother who had lost all hope, the boy now wanders the ravaged wasteland with his father.  They are heading for the shoreline, not necessarily for any reason, but just a hope for something better.

The path is not a safe one.  Due to minimal amounts of fuel and food, many of the human survivors have turned into violent gangs, much like those found in the 1981 down-under classic The Road Warrior.  Others, out of desperation, have turned to cannibalism.  The boy’s father is determined to protect his son, even if that means using their two remaining bullets on each other.  One of the film’s more harrowing scenes has the father demonstrating for his son the most effective way of executing himself, should the need arise.

The first aspect that struck me about this film was the production design, which is likely to be the film’s best chance at an Oscar.  The world the filmmakers create is desolate gray and every object is covered with ash.  It’s a world completely without hope, best summed up when the father and son reach the sea and the father observes: “I’m sorry that it’s not blue.”  The fact that the film was shot on actual locations and not computer generated is both impressive and somewhat depressing.

Perhaps the ironic twist of The Road is that it is the son who grew up in a world without humanity is the one who must teach his father about such things.  The father has seen the worst the human race is capable of and in an effort to keep his son safe from such things, he has lost all faith in human kind.  Of course, if I had encountered nothing but murderers and cannibals, I too would be a little skeptical about whomever I encountered, whether a weathered old man or otherwise.

For fans of the novel, the film follows the book relatively closely. The only major change is extension of flashback sequences involving the mother, and those scenes work well to provide more of a backstory for the father.

The Road is directed by John Hillcoat, whose last film, The Proposition, was a very compelling western; but here he fails to really put a stamp on this movie, which seems over-shadowed by its prestigious source.  Had the film been released last year it is possible it could have ridden into the Oscars on buzz alone—it’s happened—but I have a feeling it will slip through this year.  It does an excellent job of visually creating McCarthy’s wasteland of a future, but it can’t quite adapt the story successfully.

The movie does raise a lot of interesting questions, making this one of those movies that could spark plenty of important questions about humanity… perhaps around the Thanksgiving dinner table.

The Road is rated R for “some violence, disturbing images and language.”  Although there is nothing overly graphic, the movie does take place in a world where cannibalism is a common thing and the rating is certainly appropriate.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of The Road.