It's Room, It's Home

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2016)

Watching "Room" is an intense experience for it's the story of a woman (ma) who fights for the survival of her child, the one source of happiness and strength in a very limited world, a place that could have killed her long ago.
At first, we see the interaction between mother and Jack. Through the eyes of a very gifted director, we are able to almost feel their hearts beating, how their souls are almost like one. He depends on her completely because it's all he has known. She has insulated him from pain and created a world inside their prison. He's happy, and that sustains her. It's what makes her endure the visits of her kidnapper. She has become one with the child, but one day she realizes he will grow up, and this place will not be sufficient for either, especially for him. Jack is a bright and inquisitive young boy. He has learned to read, and he is beginning to wonder. She knows it won't take long for his soul to break because he's like her, a part of her: a sensitive soul that needs to grow and develop. There's much love here, but there's plenty of sadness and horror, too.
One day, she fashions a plan to secure his freedom, and at first, it's not good enough, but with a modification, it succeeds, and this is barely the first half of the film because unlike other stories and film makers who take the easy road and simplify the dilemma or the problems of the main characters, this film has taken us to the edge of the precipice, and if you thought the life in the room was hell, things are about to really intensify.
Transitioning into normalcy is not as simple as it's in the fairy tales, and just like Larson and Tremblay have already proved themselves as accomplished actors, their performances become even more exquisite in the second half of the story. We got to know them as they spoke about the world. We knew how simple their existence was, how controlled, and how dangerous it was, too. We became part of their world, and now as the doors of freedom are open, we begin a long road to adjustment. It is not easy. It might have more pain than we realized.
Most people are happy to see Ma (Joy), but Jack represents many things to others. For those with a big heart, he's a bright and scared little boy who will most likely be o.k. after a while. It's the immediate family who have the toughest time since the transition is sudden and very emotional. Joy's mother tries the hardest, and it's a good thing she's around. Others experience a myriad of feelings which will affect both Jack and his mother. Her prison has changed her, and her expectations don't quite match her perceptions.
It's at this moment that I was so impressed by Tremball's performance, which is better than most of this year's praised performances, adult or otherwise. He communicates his emotions through body gestures, glances, strong lonely yearning with his eyes, as he goes through the new trauma the big world has for him.
It's a long and painful road, but it has a good resolution, one that feels real and universal, one that doesn't rely in long speeches, beautiful photography or any sort of overblown productions. This is as heartfelt as they come, giving us another reason to believe that we haven't forgotten to be human.