I just finished watching a great, but absolutely harrowing film. The Road is directed by John Hillcoat. It is based on the Pulitzer prize winning novel with the same title by Cormac McCarthy and recounts a period of a couple of months in the lives of a father and his young son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic environment. It is a bleak film, in a bleak world – a world missing a proper biosphere. Most of the life on the planet has been destroyed. Food is so scarce that many of the surviving people have turned to cannibalism. The father and son is frequently on the run from cannibalistic gangs as they slowly head south while always scavenging for food. It depicts to what extend people will go for love; and also to what morally bankruptcy a society can sink when people are desperate for food. It’s a story of constant heartache.
I could not watch it in one sitting. My emotional reservoir would not allow me. So I watched it in three parts. I cried. This film is now also on my list of great films, like Dancer in the Dark and Requiem for a Dream, that I don’t want to watch again – my heart cannot handle it.
Beautiful cinematography. Splendid acting. Thoroughly upsetting.
2 comments:
I know what you mean about great films that don't lend themselves well to a repeat viewing. "Heaven and Earth" was like that for me. I don't think I've ever cried as much over a movie before. I was emotionally numb for three days after viewing it.
There is a Korean film, the original title translates into "There's an Eraser in My Head." I think the English title is "A Time to Remember." It is about a young recently married woman that is diagnosed with Altzheimers. This is the movie that made me cry the most -- I guess it didn't help that I was in a relationship at the time and considering marriage.
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