Familiar with Cormac McCarthy’s novels? Then you’ll know they’re dark, burnt mahogany blood-stained affairs. These are tales told in Old Testament tones, full of magnificently ornate descriptions, unforgettable characters and recurring examinations of, as Michael Chabon puts it, ‘the indifference of the cosmic jaw to the bloody morsel of humanity’. No Country For Old Men certainly ticked all these boxes, and The Road is no different. But what emerges most powerfully from this story is a father’s love for his son, the father’s sense of his own mortality, and heartbreak at the prospect of leaving a son to fend for himself in a ruined, friendless world. Tellingly, the author is 76 and he has an 11-year-old son.
McCarthy loves the film adaptation. Viggo Mortensen is astounding. So is the cinematography. Heavyweight support comes from Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, and Omar from The Wire. And don’t expect a story without hope. (That would be Blood Meridian, the next masterpiece from the same author, currently being adapted for the screen. Yikes.)
