The Road (2009)

Mrs.Tigersoap

Mrs.Tigersoap

The Living Force
We saw the movie yesterday (just before doing the EE program - bad idea!).

I think some images and situations will haunt me for a long time. I don't know what's wrong with me, but it seems I cannot watch movies like that any more without it having an almost traumatizing effect on me. I have difficulty thinking of anything else. I can see the hope in the movie (the child taken care of by the family on the beach, etc.) but still, I cannot get the cellar scene, the scene with the black man left alone naked, the wife leaving to commit suicide out of my head..
 
As said in the other posts, this movie is an emotional ride, not for the faint hearted.
It's very close to home and it's difficult not to project what I would do in similar circumstances.

I saw the Father trying at all costs to warn his son about how the world had become to give him strength and all the painful choices he would do to protect his innocence, despite what they had to live through.
You cannot go unscathed through so much horror.
How the father loses himself in trying to protect his son at all costs, while his son retains a sense of sharing and humanity.
Everything is grey and black in this movie and yet, despite it's bleakness and depressing atmosphere, I think this is a movie about hope.

I am going to think about this movie a lot.

So many levels of interpretation can be seen osit.
 
Slowone said:
I might have to now to find out about the "cellar scene"!
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What the scene depicts is not traumatizing in itself (as in most of the movie, everything is more suggested than shown), it was more what the scene implied which was, to me, traumatizing.
Maybe to others it was not the worst, I don't know..
 
I've seen the movie the other day and it was done well. I haven't had time to read the book, been busy with Operation Trojan Horse.

Throughout the movie I kept thinking the cataclysm was a meteor/comet strike as there was a perpetual darkness with vegetation dying everywhere.
 
This looks like it might be interesting, if post apocalyptic interests you, or at least the entertainment media's treatment of it. Here is the IMDB plot summary, without spoilers:

Plot Summary for
The Road (2009)

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless cannibalistic bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a rusting shopping cart of scavenged food--and each other. Written by Sean Pollock

Plot Synopsis:
The world is in ruins after some apocalyptic event. A father and his son are walking towards the coast in an attempt to head south to escape the increasingly cold... more (warning! contains spoilers)

_http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/plotsummary
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It seems to not mention the causal factor of TEOLAWKI. I guess we are left to plug in our favorite hypothesis.

The Cs 8-9-97

A: Reincarnation on a 3rd density earth as a "cave person"
amidst rubble and a glowing red sky, as the perpetual cold
wind whistles...
Q: Why is the sky glowing red?
A: Contemplate.
Click to expand...

Has anyone seen this one yet? If so, is it a stinker?
 
I merged Rabelais' thread with the existing thread discussing The Road. Even though it is in the books section of the forum, a lot of the discussion swayed towards the movie version of the book.
 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/

Probably one of the bleakest movies I've seen giving a glimpse into what could happen if the madness was to continue.. It's a post cataclysmic world, the cataclysm is not dwelt upon it's more the after effects on two people. A father and his son.

The world is ugly, a grey/brown dirty landscape. No green....it's explained that the trees and crops died years ago. There are no birds, no animals, no insects (apart from a beetle).....it is incredibly quiet. It seems they are living in the northern part of the USA or Canada with a lot of snow. The father has made a decision to move to warmer climes, so the two are on the road with a shopping trolley coming across various encounters on the way, pretty well starving to death. Scrounging any available food where they can.

Cannibalism, a treasure trove in the form of a discovered fallout shelter, a can of cola, an old almost blind man, an abandoned ship and even a piano are part of the journey. And yet despite the obstacles and the fear driving the father, the two seem to retain the noble parts of humanity (the son more so) despite some of the characters they come across having none at all.

Highly recommended.
 
Hey Johnno


Saw this movie and have to agree with what you said. Also wanted to let you know that there is a discussion about this topic here, as the movie was based on the book by Cormac McCarthy.
 
Johnno said:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/

Probably one of the bleakest movies I've seen giving a glimpse into what could happen if the madness was to continue.. It's a post cataclysmic world, the cataclysm is not dwelt upon it's more the after effects on two people. A father and his son.

The world is ugly, a grey/brown dirty landscape. No green....it's explained that the trees and crops died years ago. There are no birds, no animals, no insects (apart from a beetle).....it is incredibly quiet. It seems they are living in the northern part of the USA or Canada with a lot of snow. The father has made a decision to move to warmer climes, so the two are on the road with a shopping trolley coming across various encounters on the way, pretty well starving to death. Scrounging any available food where they can.

Cannibalism, a treasure trove in the form of a discovered fallout shelter, a can of cola, an old almost blind man, an abandoned ship and even a piano are part of the journey. And yet despite the obstacles and the fear driving the father, the two seem to retain the noble parts of humanity (the son more so) despite some of the characters they come across having none at all.

Highly recommended.
Click to expand...

Succinct review. I also highly recommend seeing this film.

It hit me with its frank, stark and brutal realism. The mother in the film pretty much did what my wife has said she would do if she were to be find herself in such a situation, dying "à petit feu". She would choose to leave as there would only be (humanoid) animals left.

My favorite exchange of the movie (Duvall around the campfire):

"Whoever made Humanity, will find no Humanity here. No sir, no sir. So beware. Beware."

"D'you ever wish you would die?" "No... It's foolish to ask for luxuries in times likes these."

This movie is brutal in "stripping it down to the bone" for those planning their "survival".

Anybody with an ounce of empathy will find it hard to see this movie. It shook me, even knowing how things could go.

Recommended seeing.
 
Mrs.Tigersoap said:
We saw the movie yesterday (just before doing the EE program - bad idea!).

I think some images and situations will haunt me for a long time. I don't know what's wrong with me, but it seems I cannot watch movies like that any more without it having an almost traumatizing effect on me. I have difficulty thinking of anything else. I can see the hope in the movie (the child taken care of by the family on the beach, etc.) but still, I cannot get the cellar scene, the scene with the black man left alone naked, the wife leaving to commit suicide out of my head..
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Same with me Mrs. Tigersoap. It was a very difficult watch for me. Especially the cannibalism aspect of it. The scenes you described, along with the cannibals they found in the cellar of that one house where one guy had a half eaten leg was very difficult for me to absorb.

But in the end, truth is what it is... And that's probably the truth of what may become of this world.

I think if I was them though.. I would have stayed in the cellar with all the food and fought to protect that place till the end. That place was like a gold mine...
 
The cannibalism scenes didn`t bother me nearly as much as when the little boy was shown how to hold the gun at a certain angle to commit suicide. That was horrible..

The landscape reminded me very much of any area after the event of a major forest fire.

It all looks very much like that. I found myself thinking about the stashes of acorn's under the ashes, the edible bulbs and roots under the ground that could have been left intact and other such things that might help in a situation like that.

Some trees have edible inner bark that can keep you going.

But I think the depression and the sense of hopelessness would be the greatest threat to survival, or even having the will to survive, in most cases.
 
Thanks for sharing the information. I watched it last night with my wife and son (14yo). I've been trying to make a point to my son about things are not as bad as they could be. He seems to spend a lot of time complaining about various things, lying about having homework and things like that. This isn't to say I don't complain, but when I reflect on how bad things could get in potential, and the movie brings it out, my whining stops and I can be thankful for what I/we do have as a family and how easy the trivial (and LITTLE) things are that I find myself complaining about.

I thought the movie depicts real possibilities and hardships and choices a person could be faced with. It was scary to think the child might be in a situation where suicide is the better option, but compared to what the people in the cellar were faced with, suicide seems like it would be better. Then again, they could have gotten the people out of the cellar, or left the door open, it would have given them more of a chance getting away, it might have gotten some people freed as well. There were some very difficult situations.

I liked the part where the father says, "I'm the one who has to worry," or something of that nature and the boy basically says "BS! I'm the one, not you!" And while I did think the father had much more to worry about, the boy was young, he might end up seeing his father pass away, he will inherit the world. So what the boy said really made sense in that context.

Even though they show no outcome of what happened to the man they left naked, and I can only imagine how difficult it would be. I think the boy did the right thing leaving the clothes and food. Even if it only relieved his inner guilt, it was the right thing to do at a minimum. That's what I thought was the best thing about the movie. The Boy wouldn't give up his humanity and it seemed to grow as the movie progressed.

Lastly, the scene of the mother leaving. I can't imagine what drove her to do that. Did she consider herself a strain on the resources, a burden that would slow them down, unable to make the trek? That must have been devastating for her husband. Whatever her conclusions about running off into the night, she had more intestinal fortitude (courage, bravery) than I could ever fathom.

Thank you (Mr. Mrs.) Tigersoap for sharing your thoughts about this movie up. I don't think I would have seen it if you hadn't brought it up here. My son seems to have gotten the point.
 
Johnno said:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/

Probably one of the bleakest movies I've seen giving a glimpse into what could happen if the madness was to continue.. It's a post cataclysmic world, the cataclysm is not dwelt upon it's more the after effects on two people. A father and his son.

The world is ugly, a grey/brown dirty landscape. No green....it's explained that the trees and crops died years ago. There are no birds, no animals, no insects (apart from a beetle).....it is incredibly quiet. It seems they are living in the northern part of the USA or Canada with a lot of snow. The father has made a decision to move to warmer climes, so the two are on the road with a shopping trolley coming across various encounters on the way, pretty well starving to death. Scrounging any available food where they can.

Cannibalism, a treasure trove in the form of a discovered fallout shelter, a can of cola, an old almost blind man, an abandoned ship and even a piano are part of the journey. And yet despite the obstacles and the fear driving the father, the two seem to retain the noble parts of humanity (the son more so) despite some of the characters they come across having none at all.

Highly recommended.
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Couldn't agree more! A great film and must see for all.
 
Balberon said:
Thanks for sharing the information. I watched it last night with my wife and son (14yo).
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Hey Balberon,

I'm surprised your son was able to handle this movie :O as the recommended age is 17+. If I saw this movie when I was 14, I think I would have had nightmares for months.

Pashalis said:
where can I see the movie? any link?
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Pashalis,

You can rent this movie at your nearest video store, or watch it on Netflix if you live in the US. Hope this helps. :)
 
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