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‘We are the good guys?’ is a question which is frequently re-iterated by Kodi Smit-Mcphee as ‘the boy’. And this causes much consternation when his father determinedly attempts to avoid any human contact even if there is no apparent danger. It is only at the boy’s urging that he reluctantly provides a modicum of help.
Based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) ‘The Road’ sees the two main characters traversing a land destroyed by a cataclysmic event – what it was we (as the audience) are never told. There’s danger at every turn with all survivors intent on preserving their own lives – either evading the cannibalistic hunters or finely tuning their ‘scent’ to the source of new prey.
Continually on the move the man and boy traverse the lifeless land where their love for each other is the torch (or the ‘fire inside’) that keeps them going. Vegetation as we know it is no more – not a leaf on a tree, not a grain of wheat – what ever they can find they eat.
When, however, they find a veritable ‘treasure trove’ of edibles, it is with reluctance that they move on. There’s no staying at any one place for too long a time – the threat of discovery by ‘the bad guys’ keeps them looking over their shoulders and getting the jitters when they hear a sound.
A great deal of planning went into the making of the movie. Director – John Hillcoat even went as far as compiling a three – four page dossier on the themes he was looking to portray in the making of the film.
"The movie will operate on a number of different levels, where it can be viewed as a more mythic metaphoric journey of the soul, a fable, an adult fairytale about the passing of one generation to another, that inescapable reality of mortality and the archetypal parent's greatest fear, guilt and heartbreak in leaving the child behind (and by extension everyone’s fear of being left behind utterly alone),” states Hillcoat. “On another level is the morality tale, an urgent wake-up call to us all where kindness, trust, hope and faith must prevail against all odds in the face of impending destruction and horror. On another is the immediate visceral reality of a dark epic adventure filled with terror and tenderness.
"As we all bear witness to a new age of violent global conflict together with the spectre of apocalyptic environmental catastrophe, ‘The Road’ manages to tap into our collective psyche with the force of a universal nightmare. It evokes our deepest and darkest fears —and with prescience and lucidity addresses what matters most."
Brought to south Africa by Videovision and United International Pictures
To watch the trailer visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbLgszfXTAY; To book at your favourite cinema click through to www.sterkinekor.com or www.numetro.co.za |
