The Road (2009)

A post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible.

Director:

John Hillcoat

Writers:

Cormac McCarthy (novel), Joe Penhall (screenplay)

Stars:

Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Viggo Mortensen	...	Man
Kodi Smit-McPhee	...	Boy
Robert Duvall	...	Old Man
Guy Pearce	...	Veteran
Molly Parker	...	Motherly Woman
Michael Kenneth Williams	...	Thief
Garret Dillahunt	...	Gang Member
Charlize Theron	...	Woman
Bob Jennings	...	Bearded Man
Agnes Herrmann	...	Archer's Woman
Buddy Sosthand	...	Archer
Kirk Brown	...	Bearded Face
Jack Erdie	...	Bearded Man #2
David August Lindauer	...	Man On Mattress
Gina Preciado	...	Well Fed Woman

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

snow | shopping cart | cart | pistol | suicide | 

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Taglines:

In a moment the world changed forever.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence, disturbing images and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 December 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

La carretera

Filming Locations:

Abandoned Turnpike Tunnels, Breezewood, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£627,147 (UK) (8 January 2010)

Gross:

$56,692 (USA) (11 May 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, 2929 Productions, Nick Wechsler Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In keeping with the novel, the cause of the apocalypse is never explained

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Goofs

In the beginning, the Man is shown to only have two bullets in his revolver. But when we see the front the revolver after he cocked the hammer and pointed the gun at the urinating gangster we see two rounds in the cylinder. The cylinder will rotate again if the hammer is pulled back, so when he fired seconds later the hammer would have hit an empty chamber.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Wife: What's happening? Why are you taking a bath?
The Man: I'm not.

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Crazy Credits

Over the end credits, we hear the sounds of children playing. What the world must have been like in happier times.

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Connections

References Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

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Soundtracks

"Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord No. 3 in E Major: Adagio Ma Non Tanto"
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach (as J.S. Bach)
Arranged by Ryan Franks
Performed by Ryan Franks & Harry Scorzo
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

User Reviews

Faithful adaptation that still offers something new

Just got back from seeing THE ROAD.

I had been very impressed by the novel and was concerned about how it would be adapted. The tone of the novel is almost unremittingly bleak and a 100% faithful adaptation would be very difficult to watch.

I'm happy to report that the film is very good indeed. It solves the problem of being unendurably depressing by concentrating on the emotional impact of the unspecified Armageddon, rather than the day to day fight for food, shelter and so on. So while at times it remains very upsetting it is shot through with hope rather than despair. I always felt the end of the novel was somewhat out of kilter with the rest of it but in the film it seems quite appropriate.

I think the film is more about the collapse of civility rather than civilization: for a film that shows the last remnants of mankind struggling to eke out an existence it is remarkably concerned with relationships. That's probably why the exact cause of the catastrophe is left blank: the film isn't really about the end of the world so much as the end of society. It's an interesting companion piece to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN in which an ageing man sees nothing but horror in the modern world. In THE ROAD a man convinces himself, for the sake of his son, that humanity will abide even in the face of appalling conditions.