Apocalyptic Road Winds to a Hopeful Place

DVD Release Date:  May 25, 2010 
Theatrical Release Date:  November 25, 2009
Rating:  R (for some violence, disturbing images and language)
Genre:  Drama, Adaptation
Run Time:  119 min.
Director:  John Hillcoat
Actors:  Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, Michael K. Williams

Questioned in a recent Wall Street Journal interview about his views on God, Cormac McCarthy, author of the road, which has been adapted into a high-profile, Oscar-contending film, said, "I have a great sympathy for the spiritual view of life, and I think that it's meaningful. But am I a spiritual person? I would like to be. Not that I am thinking about some afterlife that I want to go to, but just in terms of being a better person. … It is more important to be good than it is to be smart. That is all I can offer you."

McCarthy's answer is not surprising. Echoes of it can be heard in Sheriff Ed Tom Bell's comments, late in the adaptation of McCarthy's no country for old men, when Bell says, "I always figured when I got older, God would kinda come into my life somehow. And he didn't. I don't blame him. If I was him, I'd have the same opinion of me as he does."

The movie version of McCarthy's The Road, a story of a father and son trying to survive after an apocalyptic event, paints a picture of humanity that shouldn't be surprising to those who embrace biblical teachings: Depravity is everywhere, but in the midst of it, a young boy is able to distinguish right from wrong and to see the good amidst outwardly bleak circumstances. Although God is discussed, he is never embraced, yet The Road shows the importance of the power of hope to overcome bitterness and cynicism.

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee star as "Man" and "Boy"—a father and son on a journey. In voiceover, we hear the Man describe a past cataclysmic event that involved a "bright light" that stopped clocks. Ever since, each day is grayer than the one before. Armed with a map, the father and son are now journeying to a distant shoreline, trying to avoid cannibals, rapists and armed gangs who search for food and fuel.

The goal is less important to the Man than the daily task of watching over his son. "The child is my warrant," he says, "and if he is not the word of God, then God never spoke." With threats all around, the father carries a gun loaded with two bullets—one for himself and one for his son, whom he plans to shoot to spare him from any grisly fate that may befall the duo. "I'll kill anyone that touches you," he tells the boy, "because that's my job." However, the father wonders if, when the time comes, he will be able to bring himself to kill his only son.

The duo pushes on through fires and snow, their survival always at stake. Flashbacks reveal the reasons the mother is absent from the story: Fearing that starving survivors will rape, kill and eat them, she challenges her husband to take decisive action to prevent a fate she sees as inevitable. When the husband refuses, she literally walks out, never to be seen again.

If The Road sounds harrowing, it is, but amidst the darkness of the characters and their situation stands the Boy, who believes in his father's teaching that some people are "good guys," and who, at one crucial point, must remind his father of that very idea. A marvelous final few moments of The Road point to a reward for the father's perseverance in protecting his child.

The Road is a reminder of just how comfortable and protected our lives are, and how easily humans can revert to suspicion and distrust of their fellow man when deprived of the things they take for granted. Yet it also reminds us that people are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), and that truth should guide our actions even in the most desperate of circumstances.

More than anything else, The Road is a picture of a father's fierce love for his son. It's a vivid account of the precious lives God has entrusted to us, as well as the sacrifice He made on our behalves (John 3:16). However, the characters' actions are sometimes disturbing and desperate, so parents who choose to journey along this Road would be wise to leave their young sons and daughters at home.

Questions? Comments? Contact the writer at crosswalkchristian@verizon.net.

CAUTIONS:

• Language/Profanity:  Lord's name taken in vain; "son of a b-tch"; "hell"; the "f" word several times toward the end of the film, including "mother------"; "sh-t."
• Smoking/Drinking/Drugs:  Father drinks whiskey and offers some to his son; father smokes.
• Sex/Nudity:  A married couple shown in night clothes; man's backside is shown more than once; boy is bathed in a tub; father is shirtless.
• Violence/Crime:  Fears of cannibalism; skulls and bones shown; the feet of several bodies are shown dangling, and the boy asks his father why the people killed themselves; the father carries a gun with two bullets—one for himself, one for his boy, when/if the time comes for him to act; father shows the boy how to put the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger; the father always reaches for the gun when waking; marauding gang carries guns; man points a gun at another man who's urinating; a man flashes a quick, threatening smile at a young boy, then explains that he eats whatever he can find; a knife is put to a boy's neck and blood is seen on his neck; a man is shot; the father says he'll kill anyone who touches his son, because that's his job; a woman worries that she and her son will be raped, killed and eaten; boy wishes he were dead so he could be with his deceased mother, and says something similar about his father; gang of people in a cellar attack other humans; blood in a bathtub; gun is cocked and pointed; sounds of screaming from within a house; boy strikes his father; skeleton in a bed; skulls on sticks; blood in the snow; falling trees; man vomits up blood; a thief is forced to strip and return the things he stole; man is shot in the leg with an arrow.
• Marriage/Family:  Pregnancy and birth of boy are pictured in flashback; a husband discards a photo of his deceased wife and removes his wedding band; a wife leaves her husband and boy behind.
• Religion:  A man says that if his son is "not the word of God, then God never spoke"; boy encourages father to give thanks before they eat; the father puts his hands together in a praying gesture, and they thank the people who left them food; a discussion of whether God would know about what's happened on earth, and a skeptical response from one of the participants; speculation on how the father would have made the world if he were God.