How's It Gonna End?

Gray. Bleak. Devastated. That's the landscape of the post-apocalyptic world, at least as interpreted in the cinematic versions that seem to be popping up more and more these days. I suppose it's been a point of curiosity just about since the dawn of humankind. How's it gonna end? These days it seems that the topic comes up more and more often, whether from the extremes of the religious communities, the paranoid ex-hippies, or the more pessimistic elements of our society. If you listen to these folks, the signs are all around us. The prophecies have all been fulfilled and it's just a matter of time. While it's true that they could be right, I guess I'd rather spend my time believing that God has a better grip on these things than I do, and so it's best not to worry about it.

In the meantime, I've kept up with the possible scenarios by watching some of what Hollywood has had to say on the subject. I know you might be thinking that those folks probably aren't the authority when it comes to these matters, but then again, if you listen to certain politicians, it may just be that the entertainment industry is the very thing that is accelerating armaggedon. So perhaps they do know a thing or two about the end of the world.

At any rate, it isn't my favorite topic, but I must say, I'm intrigued by the fact that there seems to be so much interest in this area. So I recently checked out two of the more recent entries in the genre, The Book of Eli and The Road. I must first offer the caveat that if you're at all prone to depression, especially around this time of year when we in the northeast have said bye-bye to the sun for the next six months and it looks rather like the post-apocalyptic worlds of these films, you might want to pass on watching this stuff. The one thing that puzzles me about these films is that if you believe anything you see on the History Channel, the show "Life After People" suggests that a post-apocalptic world, with or without humans would look quite different. If cities suddenly crumbled after a cataclysmic event, it's more likely that vegetation would take over and things would be much more green than gray (ever let your garden go unweeded for a season?). But I guess it just doesn't fit the motif quite as well.

The Book of Eli is the more commercial of the two, and in some ways more palatable for general consumption. It's also lacks the depth and plausibility of The Road. Denzel Washington plays a sort of messenger, named Eli, who is on a journey through a desert wasteland. We aren't privy to all the details of just where he is headed or why he is traveling there from the get go. All we know is that he's traveling west, and that he has something of value that he's carrying.

There are a few things that bothered me about this film from the outset. First of all, how is it that people manage to go through these harrowing situations and dire conditions looking relatively well groomed and fed? Shouldn't their hair and beard be a bit scruffier looking? Shouldn't they look at least a little dirty not having showered in God knows how long? And how is it that they are traveling through a desert (in what appear to be several layers of clothing) barely breaking a sweat or losing stride, surviving on just a canteen of water every few days, or longer? These are just a few of the bits of logic that I got hung up on, and believe me there are others.

Eli is a lone ranger, not interested in companionship or help in his quest. He's also a fierce warrior, taking on gangs of thugs with an impossibly sharp sword, a handgun with endless bullets and range, or at other times, a bow and arrow that appears out of thin air. He's nearly invincible with these few tools, almost impossible to shoot or even harm, unless shots are fired at point blank range, and yet his aim seems to be dead on with every single shot. His timing is also impeccable. In one scene, he rescues a girl he had left behind hours earlier on his journey from some brutish attackers, by suddenly showing up with that magic bow and arrow and vanquishing them with deadly aim. I found myself wondering where he had come from, considering he had left the girl behind, making it clear that he didn't want her to follow him. Did he follow her, or just lurk around the corner waiting for trouble to find her?

Getting past these flaws in logic and storyline, I did find the payoff worthwhile. Although some of the twists were less believable and more predictable, the final twist is well hidden, and makes the journey seem more fulfilling in the end. Gary Oldman's familiar role as villain almost seems recycled from other films I've seen him in, though I think he always brings something to the role. And Denzel is a characteristically a strong, if ill-defined figure, lacking some of the depth that he has achieved in other roles. I think there are missed opportunities in stories like these. I found myself more intrigued by some of the logistics that were glossed over, such as the value of commodities we take for granted like water and toiletries. The vague references to a war, which no one but the middle aged folks like Eli and Oldman's villain seem to remember leave me unsatisfied in terms of the explanation for the state of the world they live in.

In a decidedly darker and more intense foray into the aftermath of disaster, The Road treads its way into this territory in a much more interesting way. Unlike The Book of Eli, there's no effort to explain what has happened to the world. It really isn't referenced, and so I found that I focused less on the explanation, and more on the plight of the characters. The story centers around a father and son played brilliantly by Viggo Mortensen and young Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee. Like Eli, this pair is on a journey, this time headed south. Their destination and purpose is less defined. In essence, they are simply trying to survive, but the story is about much more than survival. It's about a father and son and how the strength of that bond alone makes life worth living, even when the world is literally collapsing all around.

There are some similarities between the two films. Both display a similar landscape of burned out buildings, ominously dark skies and the few humans that are encountered seem to be gangs of thieves up to no good. Rather than a desert however, The Road takes place somewhere in the northeast, and the terrain is much grassier and filled with trees, though it seems that for some unknown reason, all this vegetation has died and looks just as gray as the skies above. There are also apparently no animals left, which makes food quite scarce, but it left me wondering what event could have killed all animal and plant life, but left some humans behind? But for the most part, the logic in this film is more intact. The characters look far from clean and groomed, and in some scenes we actually see Mortensen's ribs, apparently a result of him dropping significant weight for the role. As the film goes on, they look more and more haggard, as do the people they encounter along the way. There are no slick action scenes in which the man and boy suddenly transform from mere mortals into action heroes. They are simply surviving.

Besides the story of the man and his son on their journey, we get occasional flashbacks to scenes between Viggo and his now deceased wife, played grippingly by Charlize Theron. We see only a handful of scenes between them throughout the film, but each time Theron is on screen, it's captivating. She's a model turned actress, but it has nothing at all to do with her looks. It has everything to do with her genuine performance of a troubled woman who seems to know the certain disaster that awaits her. Her husband knows of the impending doom as well, but only one of them is willing to endure.

In many ways, The Road is even more bleak than The Book of Eli. Neither has a particularly happy ending in the conventional sense, though Eli seems to end with at least a note of hope. The Road doesn't offer much of that, and yet in many ways it rings truer purely because it does not attempt to iron out all of the plot details that it has unfurled. It's not a story about hope, but about a relationship. I'm sure many of us may feel that we'd like to be closer to our father, or if we have children, we want to be close to them. None of us look forward to living in a world like this one, but if we did, the one thing we'd likely want to hang onto is our family. In that sense, I think it's a story we can all relate to, and the fact that things don't always turn out the way we'd like, relates more to what life is about as well.

I can't say that either of these films offered me any sort of hope about the future of this world. I certainly hope not to experience anything like it in my lifetime. And yet somehow, it does put things in perspective. When we consider all of the things that we surround ourselves with in life, all the conveniences that money can buy, what is truly important? It becomes harder to see, but if we imagine all of those things being wiped away, and the only thing left on our to do list is to survive, what will you hang on to?