What do these people really want?

Rating: 10/10 (4 January 2009)

Winslett is such an impressive performer because she manages to convey a natural., yet confident tone to her performance. I have rarely seen anyone show pain, despair, and confusion with so much conviction, without calling attention to the technical details, as some of our most outstanding performers do. She never seems to be acting; if it is almost as watching a real person on screen, and this make the impact even more powerful.
"Revolutionary Road" is a dark odyssey for both leads. It never really explains how the trap caught, or the level and origin of the dissatisfaction experienced by just everyone in the film. There are many unhappy people here, but the big tragedy is that of the Wheelers, a couple that seems who have everything, yet they seem to be desperate for a new dream, and reaching that dream is an impossible task because they don't truly know what is stifling them, or what they really want.
It takes an insane man to reveal and voice their feelings, and this is the beauty of the way the story is told. Because a ruined mind/soul is the only voicing the tragic nature of everyone's pain; it's not heeded, and the impact of that scene just speeds up the descent into even more tragic developments.
In the end, the film is touches us. Still our frustrations and reactions are still bothering us because we have not experienced any cathartic release. The ending is bound to upset the majority in the audience, as it destroys the illusion of a time that embodied perfection in society and simplicity in the home. It is as if we hate what we are discovered but are still fascinated by it. "Blue Velvet" was an experiment, and it successfully opened the door, yet the souls of the freaks seem detached. In "Revolutionary Road", the people seem normal, stuck in a pleasant and normal situation that has gone wrong, but it is just realistic enough to make us feel that it could happen to us, too.
"Revolutionary Road" is a phenomenal and disturbing movie, a strong artistic plunge into a world that we know exists but we can't find the courage to deal with.