I watched The Road last week on HBO.
This movie is based on the novel, a Post Apocalyptic scenario which is both profound and monotonous as to be genius. Written by Cormac McCarthy and published in 2006 it contains a few more dramatic scenes than the movie. Scenes which involve infanticide, pregnant women, slaves, canabalism, farming of body parts, and catalytic destruction are so moving as to cause dreams and nightmares.
I'm still pondering all the implications.
The movie follows the book in mood and theme quite well. If you want a fuller experience, read the book afterwards. Do not be surprised at the lack of sentence structure or normal punctuation, such as quotes. Whole conversations flowing along between the man and boy fill a page, yet the normal constraints and protocol of literature are abandoned.
How fitting. I found it very much in keeping with the end of world scenario. "Old and troubling issues resolved into nothingness and night...
Darkness implacable....There is no god and we are his prophets".
These sentences are examples of McCarthy's talent.
We find ourselves on The Road, along with the man and his son, hunting food, watching over our shoulders, wearing rags, freezing, ever scared of those that follow us. I read the book in two days; I found it so gripping even after seeing the movie.
An entire semester of high school English could be taught with through this one literary work. Ethics, economy, religion, relationships, history, and creative writing, would be just a few areas of exploration.
Many times the book is much better than the movie. I would say they are nearly equal in impact. However, the book does offer more understanding of the breakdown of humanity, the scavanging of trinkets, the years of wasteland invisioned in The Road. Thankfully, we are left with a ray of hope at the very end of the novel.
