The Uselessness of Communication-"Road to Revolution"

Tillman 2021-11-11 08:01:14

After experiencing the less successful nostalgic gangster and the Middle Eastern version of the all-metal shell, Sam Mendes once again faced the midlife crisis and marriage problems. Some people say that "Road to Revolution" is like the process of Jack and Rose living in reality in "Titanic", thus destroying the once beautiful love and dream little by little. However, the story is not as simple as imagined, nor is it a tragedy about dreams being annihilated by reality. The tragedy in "Road to Revolution" is not a problem of reality, but a kind of illusion of dreams within the husband and wife. However, when Leonard's husband is gradually turning his dream into career success in real work, Hosewife, played by Kate, who is trapped in his life, hopes to break free from all the shackles and start another life.

Therefore, the strength of the husband and wife's personality and the difference in expectations caused the tragedy. Not only that, the director tried to find some potential, non-individual factor in the passionate and even excessive performances of the two leading actors. This factor is not just the character difference shown by the male and female protagonists, but one. Kind of more universal common ground. Faced with the unrealistic fantasy of "living in Paris", Frank once readily agreed and announced his intention to give up his job to his neighbors, colleagues and friends. However, when a promotion opportunity appeared, he faced real life/material life. The huge temptation and sense of stability shown, have to choose to abandon the original idea, this is a selfish performance, it is the husband's plan for a better future for himself. However, the wife who lives in her dream has always been obsessed with that childish idea. It cannot be denied that this idea of ​​"giving up everything, going to Paris, and living anew" is indeed immature. Perhaps this is related to the wife's identity as always at home and sometimes participating in drama performances. She didn't know the price, the pressure, and the obstacles she needed to face to enter the society. The fantasy she is obsessed with is the last chance for her to release herself. She is selfish, so she even chooses to kill the fetus in her belly. Everyone is selfish, even couples who bear the responsibilities of marriage are no exception. April once said to Frank, "You just let me fall into the trap of life and let me feel what you make me feel." This just shows that couples who depend on marriage for their lives, everyone hope each other can live for themselves.

However, if you think that Sam Mendes only used this story to illustrate the selfishness of people in marriage, then you will miss the most exciting part of the film. After April died due to self-abortion, Frank left Revolutionary Road, and then he described how the two neighbors treated the Weels family. When the old man who needed a hearing aid to hear his wife gradually turned off the hearing aid and stayed away from his wife’s rhetoric, I finally understood that the director tried to convey a message in the film: that is the unreliability of communication or language. Thinking back to the beginning of the movie, Frank drove April home and stopped in the middle of the road and had a dispute. In the climax part of the movie, Frank always tried to solve the problem through talk, and April always expected him to leave her alone. When people expect to save their marriage, they always try to find the problem through communication. However, "Road to Revolution" denies the meaning of communication. When two people cannot make sacrifices in a marriage to achieve a certain balance, when everyone is selfish and hopes that two people can live according to one person's life. When the willingness develops, communication can only become excuses and disputes, and language can only become various excuses and blames for selfishness. Therefore, instead of arguing, it is better to calm down and choose the life that each other wants. So, after April's calm thinking, she could calmly face her husband the next morning and make her own decision, even though this decision ended in death.

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Extended Reading
  • Alisha 2022-03-23 09:01:33

    Lovers, husbands and wives, lovers, family, all these inevitable relationships among people, under the catalysis of society, work, pressure and responsibility, become out of shape and even tangled.

  • Retha 2022-03-25 09:01:06

    People who don't understand this movie, just because the time has not come. hopeless emptiness, do you think you can escape? hehe.

Revolutionary Road quotes

  • Shep Campbell: You just... wanted out, huh?

    April Wheeler: I wanted *in*. I just... I just wanted us to live again. For years I thought we've shared this secret... that we would be wonderful in the world. I didn't exactly know how, but just... just the possibility kept me hoping.

    [takes a cigarette cush]

    April Wheeler: How pathetic is that? So stupid. To put all your hopes in... in a promise that was never made. See, Frank knows. He knows what he wants. He's found his place. He's just fine. Married, two kids. It should be enough.

    [takes a sip of martini]

    April Wheeler: It is for him. And he's right. We were never special or destined or anything at all.

  • April Wheeler: I saw a whole other future. I can't stop seeing it.