NOT REVOLUTIONARY, BUT AMAZING ANYWAY

MOVIE: Revolutionary Road (2008)
CAST: Leonardo Di Caprio, Kate Winslet
DIRECTION: Sam Mendes




The institution of marriage is the strangest of all. While it is the purest form of union, its side effects can never be ignored. The amount of bliss a happy marriage can bring into life and the amount of positive energy it can give you is unbelievable. Similarly abundant is the amount of stress, retardation and suffocation an unhappy marriage can give you. Mr and Mrs. Wheeler have an unhappy marriage(Di caprio and Winslet) in Revolutionary Road. Mrs. April Wheeler aspired to be an actress. Her aspiration remained unfulfilled and her ambition got dug somewhere and her only consolation was a husband who supported her pretty decently. Her husband, Mr. Frank Wheeler, is on the other hand, unhappy with his job and believes the pressure of earning the basics has cut his wings and changed his freestyle mentality and forced him to work at a place where he does not belong.

This seed of unhappiness in this couple grows slowly into a monstrous forest and the after effects of this spoilt love marriage are better if not mentioned. They have two children and April deep inside considers their elder one as a "mistake" rather than a boon. Under all this unhappiness of their life, April one fine day decides that they should move to Paris to start of a fresh life. The decision is apparently childish as Frank does not have any guarantee of finding a job there. The dynamics of these human complexities, the human expressions of love, lust, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, infidelity, ambition, faith, courage and fear make this lovely treat called Revolutionary Road.

The Winslet- DiCaprio pairing is without a doubt one of the most complementing pairs in the world. Kate Winslet yet again features in a complex marriage flick, an earlier better flick she worked in was Little Children. Kate might have been nominated with a BAFTA for the best actress here, but I feel DiCaprio's portrayal of Frank was much superior and deserved more attention. The movie is nothing "revolutionary" in that sense, but just another sensitive tale and consequence of an unhappy marriage. This movie would be remembered for its elegant direction and brilliant performances. Michael Shannon's portrayal of the retard neighbour, forms a pivotal role in the film and is a brilliant performance too(nominated for an Oscar). As I have always said, "If marriages are made in heaven, heaven consists of a bunch of incompetent and wicked devils"