An Emotionally Devastating Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2009)

Revolutionary Road begins innocently as typical boy meets girl. The girl dreams of being an actress. The boy has no immediate ambition, save for the beauty that stands before him. They get married. Our detachment from the outcome is abruptly shaken by the true-to-life build up and explosion of their first argument. We witness something at once familiar, troubling and vitally important
Following that initial confrontation, broader social themes emerge. A workday dawns with a visually stunning torrent of businessmen in nearly identical suits bursting forth onto the trains and streets. Our lover turned patriarch is but one fish among many, swimming with grim determination into the jaws of wage slavery. All of this to achieve the American dreama perfect house in cookie-cutter suburbia, a car, a doting wife and 2.5 children. At what cost? Is this the road to happiness and fulfillment? What happens to dreams and ambitions that don't fit the mold? Not new questions, but the answers are, or should be, as unique as a living soul.
RR gradually builds to an intensity that made the world around me disappear, brought me to the edge of my seat and invested me fully in the struggle played out on the screen. At the end the audience sat for a moment in stunned silence. I stayed longer and left with emotional embers still burning inside.
RR has given me a new appreciation for the craft of acting, directing and cinematography. DiCaprio and Winslet move with amazing art and skill across a vast spectrum of emotion. The mastery of lead and supporting actors, director Sam Mendes, author Richard Yates and all who worked on this film is evident in ways large and subtle giving us a glimpse into the culture of the time and the soul of two characters who were caught up in it.
A word of advice for those who've read the book: Don't go in expecting to see the book reproduced exactly on screen. A movie like Revolutionary Road is a work of art unto itself, yet still powerfully delivers the essential themes.