The Road (movie), what if life was like this?

Here is a scene from The Road.....very brutal, and I would never wish this on anyone...no matter how much life sucks now I stll prefer it to this:

The cannibals in the movie were savages...the biggest problem the father had wasn't food to to honest it was a lack of fire power...he only had one revolver and two..three bullets ...

E

reply to post by EqualizerUK


we wouldn't survive it. One thing ignored in the film that would almost certainly be so is that if the animals were gone so would be humans. Think about it for a moment.

There wouldn't be an imbalance between humans and animals ,,,there would be no need for cannibalism. Also there is the human instinct to herd. Herds of cannibals were hunting other loners. People will always group up, regardless of the grandiose gab of ATS. Great safety is in numbers, This is proven over the test of time on the earth so far.


No doubt, its a gripping tale, not truth

Originally posted by VoidHawk
Intersting film but would have been better if they'd explained what had happened. Going by the sickness of the father and a few others it hinted at nuclear war.
Were not allowed guns in the UK but as this film showed, your f'd without one.

The ash and assumed nuclear winter alluded to a nuclear war. They stated in the movie plant life would not grow and almost all animals and insects died off. If this did happen what would be the point of surviving? Humans can't survive alone, and I think this was the point of the author.

It was a true doom and gloom movie that brings on real depression after watching.

But the obvious downfall of the movie for me was they found a unlooted bunker under a house, does this not allude to this being a safe area? This bunker was filled with supplies needed to survive. They heard a dog bark and this spooked the old man to run with the kid. Would cannibals have a dog? Would people be cannibals if they had a fully stocked bunker? They found the perfect place to be and ran like hell from it, this really bothers me for some reason.

Originally posted by LDragonFire

Originally posted by VoidHawk
Intersting film but would have been better if they'd explained what had happened. Going by the sickness of the father and a few others it hinted at nuclear war.
Were not allowed guns in the UK but as this film showed, your f'd without one.

The ash and assumed nuclear winter alluded to a nuclear war. They stated in the movie plant life would not grow and almost all animals and insects died off. If this did happen what would be the point of surviving? Humans can't survive alone, and I think this was the point of the author.

It was a true doom and gloom movie that brings on real depression after watching.

But the obvious downfall of the movie for me was they found a unlooted bunker under a house, does this not allude to this being a safe area? This bunker was filled with supplies needed to survive. They heard a dog bark and this spooked the old man to run with the kid. Would cannibals have a dog? Would people be cannibals if they had a fully stocked bunker? They found the perfect place to be and ran like hell from it, this really bothers me for some reason.

They ran out of fear....10 armed men would take the food ...and take the kid and kill the dad....i think you would run too fella!

E

Originally posted by LDragonFire

Originally posted by VoidHawk
Intersting film but would have been better if they'd explained what had happened. Going by the sickness of the father and a few others it hinted at nuclear war.
Were not allowed guns in the UK but as this film showed, your f'd without one.

The ash and assumed nuclear winter alluded to a nuclear war. They stated in the movie plant life would not grow and almost all animals and insects died off. If this did happen what would be the point of surviving? Humans can't survive alone, and I think this was the point of the author.

It was a true doom and gloom movie that brings on real depression after watching.

But the obvious downfall of the movie for me was they found a unlooted bunker under a house, does this not allude to this being a safe area? This bunker was filled with supplies needed to survive. They heard a dog bark and this spooked the old man to run with the kid. Would cannibals have a dog? Would people be cannibals if they had a fully stocked bunker? They found the perfect place to be and ran like hell from it, this really bothers me for some reason.

I agree with what your saying. However the dog that barked belonged to the family that took the boy at the end of the film., they said they'd been following the boy and his father for some time. I agree about running from the bunker though, that didnt make sense.

reply to post by EqualizerUK


I guess you missed the part were the man woman and two kids at the end of the movie that had been following them had the dog?

Originally posted by LDragonFire
reply to post by EqualizerUK

 

I guess you missed the part were the man woman and two kids at the end of the movie that had been following them had the dog?

I saw the whole film....the father never saw the family.....read the book

E

Don't get me wrong I really liked the movie, it set a tone that most are very unfamiliar with. Most on here talk about a shtf situation as jumping in the pick up truck and heading to the hills and everything would be fine. This is unlikely, most have no idea what a shft would look like or what it would take to survive.

But this one area of the movie with the bunker is perplexing to me. They failed to realize there situation and kept running for the coast and this ultimately cost the old man his life, when they had found there safety but didn't see it.

Originally posted by LDragonFire
Don't get me wrong I really liked the movie, it set a tone that most are very unfamiliar with. Most on here talk about a shtf situation as jumping in the pick up truck and heading to the hills and everything would be fine. This is unlikely, most have no idea what a shft would look like or what it would take to survive.

But this one area of the movie with the bunker is perplexing to me. They failed to realize there situation and kept running for the coast and this ultimately cost the old man his life, when they had found there safety but didn't see it.

Because he was always protecting the boy..ever noise ...he heard scared him....the man didn't know about the family with the dog for all he knew it was the cannibals...

E

reply to post by EqualizerUK


I think this was the point of the movie. If the shtf how many would die because they failed to see there real situation? I didn't read the book but I think I might.

There flight to the coast also reminded me of Zombieland and the girls heading to the amusement park. Running away attempting to find normality in a world turned upside down.

Originally posted by LDragonFire
reply to post by EqualizerUK

 

I think this was the point of the movie. If the shtf how many would die because they failed to see there real situation? I didn't read the book but I think I might.

There flight to the coast also reminded me of Zombieland and the girls heading to the amusement park. Running away attempting to find normality in a world turned upside down.

That is the key problem people trying to get to what they think is the normal areas ...in a SHTF world these would be few and far between...

E

Originally posted by EqualizerUK
I saw this film ages ago ....how would you survive this type of SHTF world?

edit on 26-7-2012 by EqualizerUK because: (no reason given)

This is a thread?

I wouldn't want to live like that...you couldn't really call that living anyways, all they are doing is surviving. That being said, I would do anything to keep my children alive and safe.

Originally posted by LDragonFire

Originally posted by VoidHawk
Intersting film but would have been better if they'd explained what had happened. Going by the sickness of the father and a few others it hinted at nuclear war.
Were not allowed guns in the UK but as this film showed, your f'd without one.

The ash and assumed nuclear winter alluded to a nuclear war. They stated in the movie plant life would not grow and almost all animals and insects died off. If this did happen what would be the point of surviving? Humans can't survive alone, and I think this was the point of the author.

It was a true doom and gloom movie that brings on real depression after watching.

But the obvious downfall of the movie for me was they found a unlooted bunker under a house, does this not allude to this being a safe area? This bunker was filled with supplies needed to survive. They heard a dog bark and this spooked the old man to run with the kid. Would cannibals have a dog? Would people be cannibals if they had a fully stocked bunker? They found the perfect place to be and ran like hell from it, this really bothers me for some reason.

!!SPOILER ALERT!!
for those who have not watched it
!!SPOILER ALERT!!






here's my take on the whole dog barking and why they should not have left the bunker.

if you remember at the end when the family finds the kid and the mother says...we have been following you for a very long time...they had a dog...
it was the family's dog that he heard barking when he got freaked out and left.
if he just would have made an attempt to lay low and hide in the bunker, they would have been in great shape.
then the family would have eventually approached them.
that family was normal and they had weapons. maybe the only couple people left in that messed up scenario and probably the only people around with ammo.
oh and when the kid "saw a boy" in that one scene and his dad yelled at him and said no and stuff. i think he really did see the little boy from the family that was following them pretty much the whole time.

but anyway. in my opinion the road is one of the most depressing movies i have ever saw, but i love it. the acting and, the story is just fantastic. i really like it how they never really say what happened to the world. they made it seem like it changed over night.

it is in my top 10 of favorite movies.
one reason why is because a good majority of that film was shot pretty local to me. some of it was shot in braddock pa. a pittsburgh suburb. one of the really bad areas of town. abandoned houses buildings all run down, it looks like parts of detroit but worse.
some scenes were filmed at conneaut lake amusement park. the scene at the beginning when he finds a pop in the pop machine and the kid tastes it for the first time. was filmed in the park in a building that was damaged by a fire.
and the tunnel scene was filmed on an abandoned stretch of the PA turnpike. there is a 10 mile stretch of the turnpike thats abandoned and along that part is 3 old tunnels, one was used in the movie, and one is owned by chip ganassi racing and he uses it for high speed runs for aerodynamic testing of race cars. you can actually ride pedal bikes through the old tunnels, just not the one owned by ganassi because he bought it from the state and its private property now.

Originally posted by LDragonFire
reply to post by EqualizerUK

 

It was completely unrealistic. Is Chernobyl a wasteland? no is anywhere that has radiation damage devoid of life? no.

They found the perfect spot to be and it was well stocked with food and supplies, then they heard a dog bark got scared then left? Because they didn't want to be a victim of cannibals. If the people had supplies they would not be cannibals.

edit on 26-7-2012 by LDragonFire because: (no reason given)

Not sure about this and it's being unrealistic. The timing maybe. If we were hit by a hudge asteroid or comet, nuclear winter could result and all the plants would die out, or most of the edible ones anyway. It would be scavenger type life style with humans banding together. I think the "good" ones would gravitate towards the same and there would be bands of less good ones too. Probably safe encampments with strict population control. We, as a whole, would slowly grow back into a a completely functional societies 100's and 100's of years and probable see the same results we see today (cities, nations). I think we are living in a cyclic world. Its happened before, it will happen again.

I think if you've been running for quite some time then hearing a dog bark would spark another 'flight' instinct. Fear rules his responses. Plus, if he was discovered in the bunker then he would have no way out. Trapped like a rabbit.

I did love the movie and watch these types of movies all the time. My friends think I'm a little weird but I can't rule out something like this happening in the future.

Another good movie to watch: Take Shelter. It's about a man who has end of the world dreams and decides to build a shelter in his back yard. His friends and family think he's gone nuts. Really good movie, kind of like a Sundance film movie.

IMO the devastation in The Road was caused by a almost extinction level comet impact. Wanting to survive has almost nothing to do with actually surviving in that scenario. Eventually all hoarded and scavenged resources would run out before the planet recovered enough to provided food for most humans. But I would try to keep my family alive for as long as possible.

As for leaving the stocked bunker, I think they had to leave for three reasons.

First, obviously someone was poking around/tracking them and would have found them eventually. Hindsight is 20/20 so they had no idea that it was friendly people - and the father had kept them alive with a no-contact policy. Better to move on well stocked, and rested then be trapped/sitting ducks.

Second, they had a goal of reaching the coast where they hoped to find a sustainable food source, I suppose in the form of fishing which would eliminate the dangers of cannibalism and such.

Third, the father knew he was dying and had to find someone or someplace for his kid to live.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


If you can get past the kids role in the film and take it for what it is....its a good movie.

You should definitely watch it, one of the best SHTF movies there are......and quite realistic.

Great movie. And absolutely chilling. In my view too, it looks like the aftermath of some extinction level event (comet impact and such), not a nuclear war.

However, would things really unfold that way? The film seems to assume that there a so few people left that they have a hard time finding each other in the first place, hence "loners" like Daddy Mortensen and his son. I find that a little hard to believe, but hey, why not?

While I take the point that there is an instinct to herd and that people would gather in groups to have more "bargaining power", as it were, I very much doubt that cannibalism would be the first thing they would think about and resort to.

Cannibalism is one, if not the most, serious and universal taboo throughout the world. Not that it never happened. If you look at medieval europe, in the times of the Great Plague, there have been several chronicles by monks explaining that whole villages turned to cannibalism after the medieval economy collapsed and there weren't enough people left to farm and plough the fields.

However, I believe people organizing themselves in groups would first try to re-start some sort of self-sufficient homestead. They would do as our ancestors have done. First, they would travel and relocate to a safe place near a river or coast, for food, transport and sanitation. They would ration stocked and found food, build basic amenities, and gather supplies to grow food indoors, while continually sending scouting parties to find additional resources.

Or at least, that's what I would do!

Originally posted by EqualizerUK

Originally posted by grubblesnert

Originally posted by LDragonFire
reply to post by EqualizerUK

 

It was completely unrealistic. Is Chernobyl a wasteland? no is anywhere that has radiation damage devoid of life? no.

They found the perfect spot to be and it was well stocked with food and supplies, then they heard a dog bark got scared then left? Because they didn't want to be a victim of cannibals. If the people had supplies they would not be cannibals.

edit on 26-7-2012 by LDragonFire because: (no reason given)

to bad you were not there. What with you keen skills and level head

Glad i made an impression !

E

Doubtlessly, you need to rethink what kind of impression you made! None of your statements in that original post made a bit of sense. The impression that I received is that you have no concept of what terrible times can do to a once stable population. They left the bomb shelter (with ample supplies (maybe all) in order to get to the ocean and perhaps find some remnants of civilization (like-minded people).

Part of the story clearly showed how a decent man could be somewhat corrupted by dire circumstances to become something less than he was before. The final hope of humanity was in the children, and the father knew it and tried to provide it to the best of his abiliity while trying to survive.