Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is working as an enforcer for Irish-American gangster John Rooney (Paul Newman) in Rock Island, Illinois. Although he is willing to use violence when necessary, Michael is also a fairly affable guy. He's a good husband and a kind father to his two sons who are unaware of his criminal activities. However, Sullivan's older son, Michael Jr. decides to sneak into Sullivan's car to see what he does for a living. He witnesses Sullivan and Connor Rooney (John Rooney's son) interrogate a disgruntled associate. This ends with Connor impulsively murdering the associate fully in Michael's view. After realizing that Michael witnessed the murder, it is decided that the entire Sullivan family is a liability so Rooney reluctantly orders their murders. Sullivan and Michael Jr. manage to escape and end up trying to protect each other while also looking for the men who murdered their family.
Water is a major motif seen throughout the movie. Water is associated with death in almost every scene it appears. We first see water dripping into a bucket near a coffin at a funeral. Later, we see several gangsters brutally shot during a heavy rainstorm and another man is executed while sitting in a bathtub. At the end of the film, people are killed at the shore of Lake Michigan. Associating water with death shows how death is something natural, even when it happens at unexpected times. Death, like water, is not something that can just go away. In fact, it's simply part of the world and there would be no world without it. As we witness the death of (SPOILER ALERT) gangster John Rooney during a heavy rainstorm, he is calm and not afraid. He accepts that he is going to die and is shown to be more at peace with himself than most of the other characters who die.
The title of the film has a double meaning. On a literal scale, it refers to the town that Sullivan and Michael Jr. are heading to after they go on the run. However, it means a lot more if you know the meaning of the word "perdition. In Christian theology, perdition is "a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unpenitent person passes after death". In other words, it's another term for hell. Sullivan has arguably already taken a road to hell but he is determined to not let his son take the road to perdition as well. Sullivan wants his son to know that he has choices and is not simply a product of his environment. Even though he and his son are now on the run and surviving gun fights, Sullivan wants to ensure that his son sees no glamorization in this. Sullivan feels that he is too late for personal redemption but hopes to have some form of redemption by having his son be a better man than he is.
Although remembered as a Tom Hanks film, Road to Perdition is mainly told from the perspective of his son, Michael Sullivan Jr. The loss of innocence is perhaps the most clear cut theme in the film. Michael Jr. is young and naive at the beginning of the film. He is ultimately devastated after learning what his father does for a living and his innocence seems to be mostly lost. However, this doesn't stop his father from trying to cling onto what innocence is still left. He teaches his son how to drive and to be kind to other people (they give money to an elderly couple on a farm who shelters them). However, the most important scene occurs at the end of the film. Michael Sullivan Sr. prevents his son from killing a man by shooting him himself. This man was a murderer with the intentions of killing both of them which would make the killing a clear case of self defense. Regardless, Sullivan knew that his son killing a man, even justifiably, would haunt him forever and change the person he would ultimately be. Sullivan ultimately gains some form of redemption at the end, not only by saving his son's life, but by saving what little innocence he had left.
Road to Perdition is remembered more as a film about the bond of the two Michael Sullivans than a simple mob story. Through the complex themes brought by director Sam Mendes, screenwriter David Self, and the performances of its cast, Road to Perdition has had a lasting effect for many viewers.
Tom Hanks was praised for his performance as the sympathetic gangster Michael Sullivan
The title of the film has a double meaning. On a literal scale, it refers to the town that Sullivan and Michael Jr. are heading to after they go on the run. However, it means a lot more if you know the meaning of the word "perdition. In Christian theology, perdition is "a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unpenitent person passes after death". In other words, it's another term for hell. Sullivan has arguably already taken a road to hell but he is determined to not let his son take the road to perdition as well. Sullivan wants his son to know that he has choices and is not simply a product of his environment. Even though he and his son are now on the run and surviving gun fights, Sullivan wants to ensure that his son sees no glamorization in this. Sullivan feels that he is too late for personal redemption but hopes to have some form of redemption by having his son be a better man than he is.
Tyler Hoechlin as Michael Sullivan Jr.
Although remembered as a Tom Hanks film, Road to Perdition is mainly told from the perspective of his son, Michael Sullivan Jr. The loss of innocence is perhaps the most clear cut theme in the film. Michael Jr. is young and naive at the beginning of the film. He is ultimately devastated after learning what his father does for a living and his innocence seems to be mostly lost. However, this doesn't stop his father from trying to cling onto what innocence is still left. He teaches his son how to drive and to be kind to other people (they give money to an elderly couple on a farm who shelters them). However, the most important scene occurs at the end of the film. Michael Sullivan Sr. prevents his son from killing a man by shooting him himself. This man was a murderer with the intentions of killing both of them which would make the killing a clear case of self defense. Regardless, Sullivan knew that his son killing a man, even justifiably, would haunt him forever and change the person he would ultimately be. Sullivan ultimately gains some form of redemption at the end, not only by saving his son's life, but by saving what little innocence he had left.
Road to Perdition is remembered more as a film about the bond of the two Michael Sullivans than a simple mob story. Through the complex themes brought by director Sam Mendes, screenwriter David Self, and the performances of its cast, Road to Perdition has had a lasting effect for many viewers.
No comments:
Post a Comment