The Case for Hopeless Emptiness

I really liked Revolutionary Road up until the part where, on the Cunard ship over to France, Leonardo DiCaprio's character yells out "I'm the King of the World!".

Of course, that scene never actually happens in this film. Despite the fact Leonardo, Kate Winslet and Kathy Bates are all aboard this ship, it doesn't really sink, no matter how many icebergs people run into.

The film is harrowing - well, for those of us who aren't 17 year old girls at the front of the cinema enjoying Leo as eye candy (yes, there were some giggling girls there...). The film portrays life at is most numbing, with the 1950s American dream of a big house, a car and kids destroying all other dreams around it. The ideal middle American couple, Frank and April, live the ideal life, the only problem being that it is not the life they wanted. April finally gets the gumption to try and break out of the white picket prison they have built around themselves, remembering Frank's dreams of long ago, and they both decide to try and turn those dreams into their new reality.

Of course, everyone thinks they are crazy, apart from the local crazy man, who is the only one who really sympathises with their predicament. And I realise I am turning into Mr Plot Summary here, so I will end that right now.

This is really not a happy film. In fact, I can't recall any character in the film that comes across as happy. Every character seems to be playing a role that is not who they really are, and most seem to be able to live with it. But not everyone, as one scene in particular showed - the last time I saw eggs prepared in such a soul-crushing way, Beth Heke ended up with a couple of black eyes. Here, the wounds are not so obvious, but the soul ends up even more battered.

The acting is all superb, with the gorgeous Kate Winslet giving April a hopeless hopefulness, and Leonardo DiCaprio's Frank portrayed as a torn man looking up at the stars but living down in the gutter of "reality" and what is expected. Other characters come and go, but these two leave all others in the shade - they can really act when they want to. To me, the fact they played the unfeasibly romantic Rose and Jack in Titanic adds an extra dimension of that sense of "and this is what would have really happened if Jack and Rose had both survived".

And so, guess what? I liked this film. It struck a chord with me with its perceptive perspective on life. Truly, some of the most valuable things in life are people who understand you, encourage you and support you no matter what you say or what hairbrained scheme you may want to undertake. Everyone has different motivations and aspirations. But no one is an island. And Revolutionary Road shows how difficult it can be to start that revolution when one is rebelling against "the perfect life".

Verdict: It may not have been perfect, but I was too depressed to care. Revolutionay Road may not be a film for all occasions, but it definitely is an occasion. 4 Prozac pills out of 5, and a shot of vodka to wash them down.