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Bereft of family moorings, Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is taken in and treated as his own son by
John Rooney (Paul Newman), top boss of Chicago's mobsters. To pay his debt of gratitude as well as support his family in comfort, Michael involves himself in the
"godfather's" business and becomes a hit man. One night, his 12 - year old son, Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin) discovers his father's kind of work when he sees a killing.
To keep the murder he committed a secret, Connor Rooney (Daniel Craig), John's biological son wants to silence Michael Jr. forever to the objection of Michael Sr. and John Rooney. This incident brings out in the open the simmering rivalry and enmity between Michael Sr. and Connor who hires a professional hit man Haile Maguire (Jude Law) to kill Michael and his family. Maguire succeeds with the wife and a younger son but Michael Sr. and Jr. manage to flee. At first naοve, Michael Sr. later realizes that old man Rooney does not have the heart to discipline Connor in spite of the latter's devious schemes brought to light. Wishing to have his revenge yet not wanting his son to emulate his way of life, Michael Sr. has to plan carefully his course of action.
This well crafted movie bears the imprint of the masters. The director Sam Mendes virtually
made a clean sweep of the awards in the 1999 Oscars for his first full-length feature film American Beauty. His second film, Road to Perdition
will most probably have a reprise of that feat. The acting is marvelous. Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan struggles to redeem himself and to keep his son from a life of crime yet remains loyal to his gangster benefactor. In this film, he seems to have equaled, if not surpassed, his Academy Award winning performance as a gay afflicted with AIDS in
Philadelphia. The icon Paul Newman as the benevolent yet ruthless "godfather" gives one of his most memorable character portrayals. Mention must be made of
Tyler Hoechlin. As Mike Sullivan Jr., innocent, and fearful, his initiation to crime makes him something like his father without pressing the trigger. The setting
in the Chicago winter of 1931 is crystallized beautifully by the photography of Academy Award winning Conrad Hall.
He creates an interplay of black and white, darkness and shadows, snow and rain and this helps put the viewer in the emotional center of the story. The plot unravels the unrelenting surge of the characters towards a fate, which seems inscribed in their books of life.
Based on the graphic novel of Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner, this film shows the
strong grip of circumstances on the fate of a person. The characters seem trapped in their evil way of life. They live in violence and they expect to die in violence.
They have no illusions that it will be otherwise. As John Rooney says, "This is the life we chose
and there is only one guarantee none of us will see heaven." But this is
being fatalistic. It is a fact that man with his free will can change and bring about his redemption. Sullivan wanted that change, at least for his son.
The tagline of the film, "The father is a hero to his son" brings out another point: the force of the bonds of loyalty. There are three sets of father-son relationship in the movie but it is especially in the relationship between Rooney and Sullivan that loyalty determines the son's choice in life. Sullivan can willingly see only the good side of his surrogate father and not the bad and this determines the road to perdition he takes. Now we ask: Should one be so loyal to the point of doing wrong? Or should one set limits and freely determine the course of one's life?
(Date reviewed: September 20, 2002)
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