Unique Imagery of “Road to Perdition” by Sam Mendes

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Directed by Sam Mendes, Road to Perdition is a magnificent American dramatic movie based on Max Allan Collins’s graphic novel of the same name. The film was released in 2002 starring such amazing highly professional actors as Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig. Set in Illinois during the era of the Great Depression, the film tells a tragic story of Michael Sullivan, a hit-man in the gangsters’ clan, and his son who seeks revenge against criminals, John Rooney and his clan in particular, who murdered their family.

The movie concerns various themes, such as revenge, faith, inescapable predetermination, family relations, and so on, which hampers to define the exact genre of the film. Thus, the film embraces different techniques and features of the following genres: revenge movie, gangster film, film noir, coming-of-age story, and family drama. Perfect actors’ performance, brilliant renowned cast, amazing director’s work, an abundance of various film techniques makes Road to Perdition a profound, thought-provoking, moving, and intense film for anyone fascinated by tense gangster stories and emotional family dramas.

According to many critics, the film presents a kind of allusion to Greek tragedy where the fates of the heroes were long before predetermined by gods and they only followed the paths of ill fate destined to them unable to make the slightest change. From the point of view of Roger Ebert, the impact of Greek tragedy is explicitly reflected in the film: “the characters seem to be performing actions already long since inscribed in the books of their lives” (Ebert). Besides, the film follows the traditions of gangster films set in Godfather highlighting different aspects of father and son relations, dwelling on ambiguous situations in family clans’ wars.

Road to Perdition starts with the assassin of almost the whole clan of Michael Sullivan, which instills the feeling of revenge into the survivors’ minds, Michael Sullivan, father, and his son, and drives them further to punish the murderers of their family. The theme of revenge directly pertains to the genre of the revenge movie. However, this movie differs from the classic films of this genre; in contrast to Godfather, the characters in Road to Perdition enjoy no free will and are guided by the unavoidable mechanism where the consequences are predictable (Ebert).

Since the story focuses on the gangster’s clan it can be assumed that this is a gangster movie. However, the film is set at the beginning of 20^th century America suffering from the Great Depression, but it can’t be regarded as only a period film. On the whole, Mendes succeeds in avoiding clichés and interlacing stylistic devices from every genre creating a film with expressive imagery that supports and enhances the main ideas and themes.

The plot of the film is not overcomplicated and easy to understand, which is never should be considered a disadvantage. The main objective of the film is to bring the main themes to the spectator not through the dialogues, though they are not to be underrated, but through filming effects and techniques, brilliant photography, and exquisite imagery, through appealing to the emotional perception of the spectator.

Since the film deals with gangsters, it inevitably abounds in appalling crime scenes, death, murder, and the like. The movie is completely devoid of love scenes though tender feelings of father Michael Sullivan, who by all means, tries to protect his son from the life his father leads, to his son are easy to trace through filming techniques. I would like to focus on one of my most favorite scenes in the film, the final scene of the murder of Michael Sullivan.

The scene opens up with the shot of Michael Sullivan standing by the window to the accompaniment of waves, light shining through it reflecting the ocean. The figure of the man is not seen through the window, i.e. the reflection of the ocean is dominant here and the approaching waves are a symbol of inescapable death. Besides, this character is seen through windows or doorways throughout the whole film, which is purposely done to maintain a distance (Ebert). Several shots depict Michael’s observation of the coast accompanied by the peaceful sound of waves making the spectator fall into a kind of trance and showing no figure standing behind Sullivan’s back. And then the shot is heard and the blood appears on Michael’s clothes.

Mendes deliberately procrastinates to reveal the murderer. A close-up of shoes follows the shot-making the spectator get nervous and impatient to see the face. However, a series of close-ups is presented to enhance the emotional tension of the scene. Thus, the face of a killer is hidden by a photo camera first, then a picture of a dead body is presented through the screen of a camera, we see the last breaths of Sullivan and finally, the murderer’s cruel face is depicted through a close-up, it is Maguire.

The following medium shot depicts Michael Jr. holding a gun hesitating to fire. Several reverse shots follow each other with a push-in of a camera towards Michael, his face fixed on Maguire, strained and full of agony. At this moment the shot presents a close-up of Michael’s face when a shot is heard making the spectator believe that it is the boy who fired. Maguire hits the ground dead and the camera is directed at Michael Sr. who gathered his forces and killed his killer himself. The boy rushes to his father, puts his hand on his lap, and sobs over his dead body. The scene is extremely powerfully shot, depicting a father who didn’t allow his son to follow in his footsteps, appealing to the spectator’s inner emotions and feelings and leaving much to think about.

It should be specially emphasized that lightning plays a very important role in the film. It helps create a dark, gloomy, grave atmosphere and threatening shades. As far as sound is concerned, it is also an element of Mendes’s unique imagery. “The final confrontation between Michael Sullivan and John Rooney is a masterpiece of the genre where the sound and the typical action movements are annihilated, opting instead for silence and an immobility that grabs the audience by the throat while men fall around John and he remains imperturbable” (Ebert).

In addition, Mendes resorts in this scene to the image of water, in particular rain, connecting it with death. The scene is presented almost in complete silence interrupted by the drumming of the rain, an extradiegetic melody that adds to the grave atmosphere of the scene, and the sound of a gun. The cinematography in this scene and “perfect illumination in the center of the action, with pitch blackness surrounding” immediately captures it in the memory (Ebert).

Applying various techniques, Mendez shapes the spectator’s opinion about the characters. Through special camera techniques, imagery, and lightning, the director forces us to feel horror, tension, to emphasize with the character, or to blame him. Lasting for about two hours, the movie absorbs the viewer’s attention and keeps them in constant tension.

Despite the film was acclaimed by both critics and the public, Road to Perdition managed to get only a single Academy Award. However, flawless in actors’ acting and filming imagery, the film caters to any exigent viewer and satisfies any taste as it not only concentrates on gangsters’ stories but raises philosophic issues of god and bad, father-and-son relations, death, revenge, murder.

Works Cited

Ebert, Robert. “Road to Perdition”. Chicago Sun-Times. 2002. Web.

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Unique Imagery of “Road to Perdition” by Sam Mendes

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