THE ROAD (2010)

John Hillcoat's THE ROAD is a very faithful adaption of Cormac McCarthy's novel. Set in a post apocalyptic world the movie carefully avoids going down the route taken by the MAD MAX movies and others of this genre. The story is simple - a man travelling with his ten year old son across a devestated America. Born at the time of the largely unexplained disaster the boy has known no other world, yet he is the one who retains the human emotions of pity and charity that have been driven from his father by the need to survive. The movie is bleak and unrelenting in its depiction of a world where armed bands roam the country and cannibalism is becoming the norm yet it determindly rebuffs the sensational for something rather more valuable. While it is never forced upon the viewer the film is open to almost endless interpretation - especially in the figure of the old, nearly blind man, the travellers meet on the road. It's not a pleasant film nor an easy onebut it is an impressive one. Performances by a largely unreconisable cast which is headed by Viggo Mortenson, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce are uniformly excellent and Kodi Smit-McFee is truly outstanding as the boy. Impressive if somewhat difficult. Rating ****