I finished reading The Road this past weekend and although it was slotted in for drama week, I really wanted to watch it sooner than later because it's so incredibly depressing that I was kind of dreading having to relive it again later in the summer. So, since we had some extra time yesterday I proposed squeezing it into this week. I think we are both glad to be done with it. The whole time I was reading it I could not fathom why anyone would think this would make a good movie. It is an intensely horrific and draining story, and the movie was no different. Of course it was well done, but it still made me want to kill myself. It was perfectly bleak and for the most part was pretty true to the book. The whole thing hinged on the performance of the boy, because he was the emotional center of the story, and the young actor was very good. We managed to hold off crying till the very end, but felt a lingering sadness for a while after. I found myself sympathising with the mom, in that I don't think I could struggle that hard for a life that isn't much of a life at all. Quality of life is more important to me than just being alive, and although I am not a mother myself I could completely understand why she couldn't stand by and watch her child suffer like that.
As opposed to my pessimistic views, Brandon found the book and film less depressing and more hopeful than Cormac McCarthy's last story that was adapted to the screen, No Country for Old Men. He saw The Road as a metaphor for life and the value in struggle, whereas in No Country, struggle never trumps fate. Interesting that a man changes his views so quickly in one year's time.
I would recommend reading the book before watching the movie. The book is far more moving.
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