Father-Son Theme within the Film “Road to Perdition”
Morality is structured by exact and rigid dichotomies. There are either good or bad people. The good ones act in ways that are morally upright. The motivations of the good people are pure but those for the evil are self-centered and evil.
One art function is countering such simplistic thinking by indicating that the character of human is a bit complex than such political parties recognize that men who engage in evil things may act from motives that are not different than yours those of good people. For example expression of fictional characters that show more complex in action and motivations than the popular morals allow.
These events were showed by the viewing of Sam Mendes’ updating of the gangster film the road perdition. Mendes calls attention to his own artistry in manner that is too obvious and emphatically for the film to be really great. The film represents the hit man who is its central character as something of a tragic hero.
Mike Sullivan who is the films central character is a hit man in mob of John Rooney. However he is as well a strict father of two boys and a devoted husband. When his older son witnesses the murder of an apparently errant member of gang by the son of Rooney accidentally, then Rooney orders his son to kill the boy. When the wrong son is murdered by Conner together with the wife of Mike, Annie, Mike flees with Michael and then attempts not only to save the life of his son but also to avenge the murders of his other son and his wife.
The theme of the complex relations of fathers and their sons is portrayed by the presence of another father-son relationship in the film. The son of Rooney, Conner comes as a spoiled child who ought to suffer for his bad deeds. But just like Mike, Rooney is a father and he brings himself so as to a leave his son, no matter what he has done and how pathetic the actions were. He can’t overcome the loyalty he has to his offspring’s.
As a way of avenging the murders Mike uses his wealth of knowledge of the activities of the mob to steal their gains that are ill-gotten from secret stashes in banks. Maguire is an interesting who takes photographs his victims bodies. He was hired so that he can kill Mike for the theft he had done and he follows him as he travels.
One of the truth that the film prepares us to accept and mobilize the themes from Greek tragedy is that Mike must die in order to keep his son from becoming a gangster himself. The endless chain of revenge murder can some to an end only through the death of Mike which settles the score ends the cycle. It is through this that the Mike Jr. appears into a life unattained by his association with the mob.
The film of the gangster raises some compelling moral themes through its portrait of mob fathers and their sons. As distinct as the mobsters may be from us normal fork, the theater is left acknowledging more similarity between their lives and our own than we may have done when we started viewing. Fathers are more concerned about their sons and the sons may not live up to the ideals of their fathers. In the world of the mobster portrayed in the road of perdition, however these simple moral truths result in tragedy.
Reference
Robert Searle (2010) Road to perdition Blu-ray review
Wartenberg, T.E. (2002) The road to perdition movie review
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