"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
-Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
When most of us think of the ideal America, that dream that we come here for - the quaint house in a nice neighborhood with a white picket fence, beautiful wife, 2.5 kids, we think of the 1950s. That whole Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, picturesque era of freshly mowed lawns becomes the ultimate definition of contentment. Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead) has created another great American drama about the quiet madness of suburbia by adapting an amazing novel by the late Richard Yates. With Revolutionary Road, Mendes peels back that illusion of perfection and digs deep into the underlying unhappiness of middle class family life.
Multiple shots like this imprison April in her house
April (Kate Winslet) and Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) find no satisfaction in their work and their children are just ornaments to their lives. When they decide to move to Paris, they suddenly have so much hope and excitement. Just entertaining the idea of moving brings them closer and makes them think that the prison walls around them will soon be gone. They think that when they aren't confined anymore, they'll be able to truly find themselves. The suburbs are indeed a prison in this film and to not conform or submit to the rules of the prison deems you insane. People start to look at Frank and April as if they're crazy when they tell them about moving to Paris. "So what if we're crazy?" they say to themselves. "If this is crazy, I guess we are." They meet John (Michael Shannon), the son of one of their friends, Mrs. Helen Givings (Kathy Bates) who has been in and out of the psychiatric hospital. Although others push him aside as crazy, the Wheelers bond with him when they tell him of their ideas of freedom and escaping this "hopeless emptiness". Insanity here is relative, who are really crazy - the ones that try to achieve normalcy or the ones that break free of all expectations?
I'm a single guy in my early twenties so I can't really speak with authority on marriage except what I know about it biblically. In this article I can only offer my naive perspective. When I was watching one particular scene of Frank and April yelling at each other, I realized that this was a great film. The argument dealt with their children and how selfish parents can be about their own lives versus their responsibility as parents. The way the children are portrayed are almost like accessories. They're barely in the movie, like extras. When they finally show up for the first time on screen, you're surprised there are even kids in the house. They're living this miserable life and trying to hold it together for the kids. Are the kids just mistakes? The movie really made me think, do I want kids? I take on the cynical perspective that the world is so cruel and horrible. Why would I want to bring a life into it just to teach it how to get through all the struggle and strife? Why not adopt? There are so many troubled souls already in this world, it would be selfish to create another life just for myself. That wasn't the point of the film but everybody is part of a family and this film will cause each person to take something different from the idea of family.
Another thing that stuck out to me was the concept of manhood. April truly degrades Frank in some of their fights when she calls him a boy. She repeatedly destroys him by saying he has no backbone. This is about the lowest you can go when insulting a man. When I went to my cousin's wedding a few weeks ago, the pastor preached on Ephesians 5, the quintessential passage on marriage in the bible. Instead of emphasizing the "submission" part to the bride, he simply told her to respect him no matter what. In this progressive world there is increasing confusion when it comes to gender roles. A husband has to be quite audacious to demand total submission from his wife, but the least he could expect is her respect. Of course this can't be expected without the husband first loving his wife.
"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."
Amidst all the discontentment, everybody trapped in this suburban landscape simply carries on. They suppress whatever trouble surfaces. To their neighbors they present themselves as A-OK. This is the same in the church. We always have to put up this facade that everything is okay when its not. In the spiritual life, if we're not doing okay, why fool people into thinking that we are? The Tolstoy quote at the beginning of the article says that "every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". I would almost add that simply "every family is unhappy" but that's not true. What's true is that every family has it's equal share of problems and we shouldn't hide that from each other but accept it and accept each other despite it.
Rated R for language and some sexual content/nudity. Running time: 119 minutes.
this review looks awesome, julian! i really want to watch this film, and then when i got to the part where you mention how they move to paris, i had to stop. i think i'll watch it first (with no pre-knowledge of the storyline), and come back to your review :)
report abuse
vote down
vote up
Votes:
+0
Write comment
Having An Event?
KAC Media would like to cover local events held by churches
and organizations. Please email us at:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
with the details of your event.
Join Now!
KAC Media (Korean American Christian Media) is a full serviced and free online networking community focused on the 1.5, 2nd, and 3rd generations of Korean Americans. Register Now...
Get Involved
Enrich your life and others by volunteering your skills and promoting a Christian Lifestyle.
Learn more...
When most of us think of the ideal America, that dream that we come here for - the quaint house in a nice neighborhood with a white picket fence, beautiful wife, 2.5 kids, we think of the 1950s. That whole Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, picturesque era of freshly mowed lawns becomes the ultimate definition of contentment. Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead) has created another great American drama about the quiet madness of suburbia by adapting an amazing novel by the late Richard Yates. With Revolutionary Road, Mendes peels back that illusion of perfection and digs deep into the underlying unhappiness of middle class family life.
Another thing that stuck out to me was the concept of manhood. April truly degrades Frank in some of their fights when she calls him a boy. She repeatedly destroys him by saying he has no backbone. This is about the lowest you can go when insulting a man. When I went to my cousin's wedding a few weeks ago, the pastor preached on Ephesians 5, the quintessential passage on marriage in the bible. Instead of emphasizing the "submission" part to the bride, he simply told her to respect him no matter what. In this progressive world there is increasing confusion when it comes to gender roles. A husband has to be quite audacious to demand total submission from his wife, but the least he could expect is her respect. Of course this can't be expected without the husband first loving his wife.
