The Road: Theme

       This past weekend I watched a film that had a new take on a post-apocolypic world.  "The Road" by John Hillcoat, tell the tale of a father and son trying to survive in a very cold and dark world.  The film seems to make a statement on human nature  when looking at how civilization was so quick to fall to pieces.

      We are never given a reason why civilization ended, we simply come into its aftermath.  There are no animals left aside from humans and no form of law/government.  Gangs run the land raping, killing, and cannibalizing as they go.  Our main characters, a father and son, are confronted as they go by gangs and murderers.  Through all the hardships they face they try to "be the good guys" as the son says and avoid falling into the chaos and lawlessness that surrounds them.  This desire to stay pure and good is a metaphor for the boys innocence.  The little boy tries to help people, while his father strives to protect him.  In a way the father starts to become corrupted when he steals the cloths of a man in the snow and leaves him to die, but is pulled back and saved by his son who convinces him to try and make up for what he has done by giving them back.

    This theme of trying to maintain ones innocence and remain morality is seen throughout the film.  This themes also directly dictates character interactions and how the two main characters view each other.  The reason I chose to talk about this movie is because it has an interesting theme to the viewer, but this theme simultaneously drives the plot.  I felt that this film had an excellent plot but also did exceptional job of choosing a theme that than motivated the characters actions while at the same time allowing them to become more multi-dimesional and realistic.