Maybe we need cataclysms,
Or, second best,
Movies about cataclysms,
To rescue us from slipping into the rhythm
Of war, of failing ourselves,
Of failing our dreams
Of failing each other
Of accepting the provisional life
Of acting in a boring movie
Designed to keep going
Until all the main actors
Get too old for their parts
Or the ratings tank.
I watched a disaster movie last night,
"How it ends".
This guy is at the airport,
Flying out to Seattle to join his fiancee
And something is wrong.
All the flights to the west coast are simultaneously canceled.
He winds up driving 2000 miles to get to her.
He is on the road for 5 Days.
It reminds me of the book, "The Road".
It is a post apocalyptic road trip.
He and his future father in law (Forest Whitaker)
Band together.
Spoiler alert - the father in law
Dies about halfway
But not before
He has given the young man his blessing.
He hardens as he travels,
Becomes the man he needs to become
To get to his fiancee.
There are interesting touches.
All during the movie nobody knows what happened
On the west coast.
The weather is ominous.
Animals are behaving strangely.
The internet is down.
It's back to shortwave chatter and rumor.
All we know is whatever happened is big.
Really big.
What he might find when he arrives
Is only limited by our imagination.
The movie does a good job with creating
A big vacuum of suspense,
Focusing on what is immediately happening
On the road.
It's really all about this young man's initiation.
Oh, I forgot to mention,
His fiancee is pregnant.
It's like, if he succeeds,
If they succeed,
If she and the unborn baby survive,
Then the world is also pregnant,
The cataclysm is on the order of a birth.
If she doesn't survive,
If the three of them don't survive,
Then neither do "we"
And neither does the planet.
The cataclysm is the beginning
Of the end of the road.
(Article changed on May 01, 2022 at 5:59 PM EDT)
