Small "h" hope.

Well, I girded up my loins and went to see the Road. I was a bit nervous about how graphic it might be - I don't do well with a lot of violent, or what I refer to as, "icky" scenes. Knowing the book quite well, I knew what would be in each scene. This helped a lot in knowing when to look away, or hum the Flintstones song in my head (try it, it works).

It was a faithful adaptation of the book, very thoughtful, vivid, yet very gray cinematography, and strong performances. At the end, I didn't feel as moved as I thought I might. A shitty sentence to explain that I was like, "Okay, end of the world, yep. That's depressing."

Anyone who comes to this blog knows that I am wild about McCarthy and every sentence he writes. If you go searching, I am sure there are at least a few post about No Country For Old Men - in my opinion, a better film than the Road. Maybe it is that I can better understand No Country's take on a violent society, I can fit that in my head, contemplate it, and as tough as it is, I can still get up the next day and face the brokenness in the world. I have a hard time truly contemplating the apocalyptic vision of The Road. And to think of me and any one of my kids facing into a world like that  - nope, I just can't go there. There is of course hope of a sort, McCarthy hope, which is a very small "h" hope. Spoiler alert -

The boy going on with another family after the father's death suggest that there is hope, the boy has found hope and will go on. There is a similar hope in the final scene of No Country. In the movie Tommy Lee Jones gives the final speech pretty much verbatim from the book. I watched it again recently and was struck by the image of the father carrying the fire, going on ahead of the son. I had somehow missed this similar theme in The Road, where the son talks about carrying the fire. In this case, it is the son that goes on ahead, or is it the father.... hmmmm?

Here is that final speech from No Country. Watch and be amazed by one of the best movie endings, by Tommy Lee's stunning performance, and by McCarthy's poetic prose.