Director Sam Mendes tells of an America in the 1950s as a microcosm of routine conformity and the subsequent frustration when desires are not turned into reality. Through the broken dreams of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, the weight of daily living without an escape route is a fitting portrait of America during a psychologically grappling and stifling time.
‘Revolutionary Road,’ the book, was published in 1961. ‘Revolutionary Road,’ the film, was released in 2009. Perhaps, the reason for the long delay is the interregnum when America has further broken down in its definition of the certainties of the American way of life in the ‘land of opportunity’ and the existence of the ‘American pipe dream.’ Blame it on the eight years of Bush when American belief in what truly constitutes American zeal and fervor got all screwed up.
America today can very well be the sequel to the book and film. This is a time when too many certainties seem to have been broken. ‘Revolutionary Road’ becomes overbearingly valid because the theme, simply and dramatically, is the end of illusions.
With the gripping reality that America faces today, the great American dream is for naught. If it was so in the 1950s, so much more is it now. The American pipe dream is only an illusion. If Obama victoriously says, ‘Yes, we can,” we all know that he was able to do that only because he had billions of campaign funds to get to the point when, indeed, he can declare those words.
America will and can get on the revolutionary road only if and when it finally realizes that there is – indeed – a need for a revolution. Up until then, it will only remain at routine conformity to the illusions of its greatness, and will constantly get frustrated because the greatness is all a lie. No one is more fooled than America.
