What touched me the most is that despite the very very sad undertone caused by the omnipresence of death, both Kevin Bacon (Tom) and Miles Heizer (Davey), by fully embracing their pain and accepting death, are able to gain strength and really start living. What do I mean by this? Tom and Davey are confronted with the ultimate pain of losing or having lost their most beloved people in life. This is a heavy burden to carry. Whenever you see Tom, you see my wife is dying of cancer and I can't do anything about it written in his face. In Davey's case it's I have just lost my mom. That's a very depressing situation for both of them, where despair mingles with desperation, anger and emptiness. Both of them are on the verge of losing everything and yielding to the pain. However, from the moment Davey starts to live with Tom and his wife Megan, a subtle healing process is initiated. I very much agree with the reviewer above, Megan is healing Tom and herself when she decides to take in and look after Davey. For Davey it is not only a path at the end of which he can forgive the man who he deemed responsible for the death of his mother, it is also a path into a better future that allows him to leave death and pain behind and start his young life anew. The death of his mom allowed him to meet Tom and Megan and by the most unlikely circumstances he grows very close with them. When Megan's condition deteriorates and she is about to die, he blames himself and thinks God is punishing him. He has to accept death again, and this time it hurts just as much. However, he has found a place to be, he has found love, and although he is losing a most beloved person again, by embracing death and the pain, he wins a new life at Tom's side, a better life then he would have ever thought he would live. As for Tom, his life is already falling apart before the fateful accident. His wife is dying, he has no children, and when Davey shows up, he risks losing his job. You can feel the emptiness inside of him in every moment, which is grand acting on Kevin Bacon's part. Tom's working mate actually reproaches him for being dead inside. He is really not interested in Davey when he knocks on his door. Yet he realizes that Megan finds a lot of comfort in taking the boy in. Tom and Davey confront each other and their pain, they slowly establish a most unlikely bond, and at the time Megan is dying, they have found a new meaning in life. They help each other out, they overcame their individual pain, which becomes a common pain, and from this common pain they are able to rise together. Death has given both of them a new life, a new meaning in life, and at the very end they are stronger than they ever were and ready to usher into a future that, growing out from so much depression and sadness, holds the promise of life and love and the prospect of happiness.
Review of Rails & Ties
