This Cart is Ready for its Closeup

Cormac McCarthy’s novel “The Road” is a story of love, hope and armageddon. The film adaptation of the book arrives shortly, bringing audiences the chance to see the biggest surprise of the season – the lead role is played by a shopping cart. Viggo Mortensen plays a father trying to protect his son in a post-apocalyptic world. Kodi Smit-McPhee is the son choosing between the love of his father and the opportunity to be raised by bears. But it is the shopping cart, played by a shopping cart, that is the focus of the story. Using an artful mix of understatement and wheel squeaking we sense the emotions of the cart as it must lead the two humans down a bear highway, through a bear hamlet and over a bear pass. In one heart-wrenching scene the cart befriends a narcoleptic cub abandoned by its bear tribe. When the cart must choose between cub love and taking the father and son to safety the cart reluctantly continues the journey with its human charges, brushing the fur of the sleeping cub as it moves on.

For anyone looking for a holiday film with shopping carts, stark landscapes, facial hair and bears “The Road” delivers.