Revolutionary Road - truly a must see film!

Every once in a while, a netflix dvd comes to our home and surprises the heck out of me. It happened last night with Revolutionary Road. It truly is a must-see. Despite the obvious eye candy for all genders and sexual orientations provided by Kate Winslett and Leo DeCaprio, this film offers a profound and penetrating insight into the “hopeless emptiness” of suburbia.

The film focuses on the marriage of Frank and April Wheeler, whose young idealism and commitment to discovering their passions and pursuing their dreams gradually get swallowed up by two kids and Frank’s meaningless job. Early in the film, they think that happiness might be found in a new house on the other side of town, which lands them on Revolutionary Road. But like the smell of a new car, the glow of their new home wears off all too quickly, and they’re no closer to contentment than they were before the move.

Winslett’s portrayal of April is brilliant, as she manages to capture the extremes of an undiagnosed manic-depressive with frightening authenticity. As the home on Revolutionary Road fails to satisfy, she tries to get Frank to move the family to Paris with neither a job nor a coherent plan in hand, by appealing to Frank’s long-buried dream. April convinces him that the key to lasting happiness lies in living in Paris, come what may. As they busily make plans to execute this pipe dream, their friends, on the surface, openly question the Wheeler’s decision. But underneath, April and Frank’s lust for life uncovers the widespread discontentedness of everyone else in the cast. While Frank and April are not deterred by the naysayers, they are eventually deterred by April’s unexpected pregnancy and Frank’s equally unexpected promotion.

The desperation April feels as she sees Frank’s resolve wane in the months leading up to their departure date creates a frenzy of marital strife, chaos, and desperate measures by April. Both of them have extra-marital affairs, lash out at one another, and come perilously close to separating.

The soul of this film is the tension it conveys between an individual’s - or a couple’s -dreams and the social pressures to live in lockstep with the masses of people who live unexamined, unremarkable lives in suburban America. The brilliant work by every minor character as they bring to life the amazing dialogue of both Richard Yates, the novelist, and Justin Haithe, the writer of the screenplay, brings the viewer face to face with his/her own suburban compromises and deep regret over un-pursued dreams.

For me, the film raised so many critical questions from, ‘What is happiness?’ to ‘Is it even possible for an individual or couple to live a life that is true to her/their own vision in the face of so much social opposition?’ Revolutionary Road also pushes us to look at all the ways we, like the Wheelers, tend to locate happiness somewhere out there, on the next block, up a few rungs on the corporate ladder, or even overseas. The Wheeler’s inability both to follow their dream and to bloom where they’ve been planted destines them for a tragic ending of Shakespearean proportions.

Don’t miss this truly remarkable, one-of-a-kind film. While Revolutionary Road is no “feel good” summer romantic comedy, it is as penetrating a look at the human condition as Hollywood has ever produced. A film this haunting that cuts so close to the bone is both powerful and painful to watch. But watch it we must, for whether we care to admit it or not, in the lives and marriage of Frank and April Wheeler, we see our own lives play out.