If you have been searching for a theatre to play the 2008 film, “Revolutionary Road,” I regret to inform you, that it will not be found.
It has not been a widely released film. Like other movies of its sort, it has not maintained longevity in the few theatres around the Tri-Cities that actually chose to play it.
Though it came out in December, the only theatre around here, Real to Ree,l featured it for a meager two weeks, two months after its initial release.
“Revolutionary Road” is a film about life and the complex forms it can take depending on the path we choose to take. Directed by Sam Mendes (“American Beauty,”) the film is very artistic and colorfully balanced between visual aspects of cinematography and emotional performance of the characters. It is based on the dramatic novel by Richard Yates, and Mendes takes the characters and setting from the book and paints a beautiful portrait of life in mid-20th century for the audience.
Frank and April Wheeler meet at a party amongst cocktails and clouds of cigarette smoke in the exciting time of the 1950s when America was on the cusp of change and hope lingered in the air.
Frank, played by the award winning actor Leonardo Dicaprio, and April, by his “Titanic” leading lady Kate Winslet, fall in love young with passionate resolve and reckless abandon, excited about the future and their romantic notions of traveling.
Like many young couples, the two are met with disappointment at the life they end up leading. Dicaprio is a business man in New York City working at a job he despises, commuting home to his wife and two children at their home in atypical suburbia.
Winslet becomes a housewife and actress of no profound talent, trapped in a life she could never settle for.
Their unhappiness with their lives extends to that of their marriage and the two begin to drift apart.
Dicaprio is led astray from the arms of his wife by a young secretary at his job until Winslet makes a decision to move the family to Paris, the place they’ve always dreamt of living. With the prospect of a new life on the horizon, the couple’s old romance once again ignites, until Frank is offered a raise and the two begin to see in each other’s eyes the failures that they have achieved.
Tragedy and heartache begin to befall the young couple because they cannot find happiness with themselves.
The acting was like none I’ve ever seen. Both Dicaprio and Winslet were masters of the screen and are so convincing in their parts that I actually had to talk myself out of a fit of manic depression.
I was surprised by the content, since I assumed (which you should never do before viewing a film) that it was a whirlwind romance like the movie “Titanic,” which they co-starred in, in the ’90s.
However, “Revolutionary Road” is anything but a typical Hollywood narrative. I was blown away by how realistically the two portrayed the lives of the two complex and emotionally conflicting characters.
It was so true to life in the sense that we all put up a facade of contentment for the world even if we are crumbling beneath the surface. It is not a movie I would want to see twice, not because it wasn’t a terrific film, but because it was just a little too tangible for my taste.
Though I enjoy a good tearjerker, I do not like feel or think it is mentally healthy to walk away from a film feeling momentarily like dying.
This is an important film to watch in the aspect of becoming knowledgeable to the human condition. Expand your mind and step out of the box; you may be surprised at what you find in yourself after viewing this, in my opinion, one of the best films of the year.

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