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Perdition, anyone? I know the road... (spoilers, if that'simportant)
Hey all... I've looked back and can't find anything, but if I'm repeating
already treaded-upon ground, please forgive...
Has anyone hit "Road to Perdition" yet? I saw it twice this weekend (once
because I really wanted to see it, and once because my friends wanted to see
it and I liked it enough the first time to see it again). I'm probably doing
nothing more than paraphrasing what critics have already said (Peter Travers
in Rolling Stone, for one), but I though it was a really pretty incredible
film. There were so many beautiful images/concepts, but I guess I kind of
expected as much from Sam Mendes after "American Beauty". So, I guess I kind
of went into the film expecting to like it.
I loved the father/son relationship. I mean, that's the absolute center of
the film. "I love my father and want to understand him. And be near to him
for the first time in my life." "I love my son and don't want him to become
like me. At any cost."
At first I thought Tom Hanks was miscast in the role he's in. But on the 2nd
viewing, I really liked him. It's against type both for him in the context
of his career and for the role itself. And as the son of one of those
strong, silent midwestern men, he pretty much hit the proverbial midwestern
nail on the head. His conflicted realization that his son is all he has left
after pushing so hard just to leave town and his realization that he really
needed his son just to survive was pretty devastating to me. I mean, my dad
and I have a pretty decent relationship, but I found myself wishing that he
wanted to know me enough just to have asked "what do you like?" when I was a
kid.
I loved the ending as well. The friend I saw it with on Friday night wasn't
as up on the ending as I was. I guess I pretty much thought he had to die. I
mean, I suppose, like "American Beauty" it's kind of spelled out in the
first minute of the film that he's going to die, but it's still a shocking,
beautiful, sad, complex few minutes of film. His last words as his son holds
his head aren't "I love you", but "I'm sorry". Over and over. It just made
me wonder where he came from (the line about how he had no father, so Paul
Newman became his father). It's just hit me hard, as I've kind of said,
because of issues I'm kind of working through about my relationship with my
dad and how they've formed me. That feeling of "I let you down" rather than
"you mean the world to me." And the sound of the water hitting the shore
being so strong rather than music just reinforced that sense of renewal in
the idea that "my son doesn't have to take the road I have". Maybe I'm
reaching, but it's how it struck me. Travers (in that Rolling Stone review)
makes mention of the last line and it's complexity - "He was my father" -
it's so completely simple, but it gives such recognition of who the son is,
and also who he doesn't want to be at the same time. I guess the comparison
that comes to mind is the Luke/Anakin relationship in "Return of the Jedi".
That complete recognition that "this is where I came from. And absolutely
where I don't want to go. And I love this man, but I hate what he's become.
But there's still hope."
Another film it also reminded me very much of was "Unforgiven". It's in a
different genre, obviously, but the idea of the completely reluctant
avenging angel was still really strong. "I'm done, but I have one last thing
to do". Maybe not as strongly as "Unforgiven", I suppose. But still there.
Anyway, I'm sorry I've babbled so long about this. But this film just hit me
on a lot of separate levels in a way that nothing has in awhile. Thoughts?
Layne
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