Unrhetorical Questions, Unfortunately

Would you like to see a full-length movie of Sophie’s Choice?

Meryl Streep stars in the full-length movie, “Sophie’s Choice,” as a Polish woman who once was asked, “which of your two children will you send to the gas chamber, and which will keep alive?” And needless to say, it was probably not an easy decision for Meryl to make.

But that’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about the movie, “The Road,” in which there is not one Sophie’s Choice, but many. Which is to say, every moment and every scene involves a decision which is terrifying, gruesome, and soul-destroying in its moral implications - no matter what the outcome, really.

For instance, would you rather shoot your son and yourself in the head with your last remaining bullets, or inevitably both to be raped, killed, and eaten by marauding gangs - and not necessarily in that order? Would you and your young son venture outside into the cold, where the likelihood of being hunted and eaten is high, or stay indoors, where you will inevitably starve to death, soon? Would you try to survive in a barren world, knowing that the Earth is dead, that there is no hope, and that you’re only delaying the inevitable?

Care to contemplate such things for, say, two full hours? It gets worse...

Would you kill another person, in order to save your son? Would you eat someone - if they were dead, or sick, or weak, or maybe just small and delicious-looking? Would you do it to feed your family, as the only means to survive?

Would you stockpile live human-beings in your basement and then slowly eat them to extend their shelf life, an arm or leg at a time? And, were you about to be captured to be stored alive and eaten, limb by limb, would you shoot your small son in the head with your only bullet, to spare him from facing the same fate, even if he’s crying and saying “please, papa, no,”?

These are the questions you ask yourself, minute by minute, second by second, as you watch The Road unfold. Until your emotional self retreats, into the fetal position, and you wait for the movie to end.

If that sounds fun to you, then I recommend "The Road," as a stunningly rendered cinematic feat. The beautiful landscape is darkened sky and ashen ground, and a father and son, trudging through the barren scape, trying to stay human and trying to stay alive - even though neither really matter, any more.

For those of you who will wisely avoid this film like the emotionally-wrenching post-apocalyptic nightmare that it is, I will give you the take home message: When the world ends, and the Earth dies, it will not be a Nick-Cage explodey adventure. It will suck, a lot, and be really, really, sad. The End.