Road to Revolution

What happens when two people meet and try to turn an ordinary life extraordinary? The answer to this powerful and pertinent question forms the crux of director Sam Mendes’s commanding and compelling movie, Revolutionary Road. Starring Leonardo Di Caprio as Jack Wheeler, a man stuck at a job he does not like but is too afraid to risk his stability for the unknown and Kate Winslet as April, his tempestuous wife who wants to gamble with life, take a chance and explore life without being inhibited. The movie is a treatise on the blows dealt by life and the desperate attempts made not to seek solace in the arms of the mundane. It traces the journey of a young couple caught in an everyday life, their doubts, their dreams and the destination they finally reach! Compelling without trying too hard, hard hitting without depending on melodrama, the movie is undiluted class. The effortless enthusiasm with which Kate Winslet slips into the role is original and awe inspiring. At times the endearing housewife who yearns to rekindle the lost passion and at times the embittered woman waging a lone and silent battle against mediocrity, the actress is remarkably composed and vulnerable. Bewitching and brave Kate Winslet radiates in the warmth of one of her best performances ever. Leonardo as the errant and unfaithful husband who does not want to give up his comfort zone is intense, powerful and extremely convincing. As a man caught in the crossfire between his wife’s dreams and his own incapacity to choose, he delivers a flawless performance which mirrors his virtuosity as an actor. Based on a Richard Yates novel this hard hitting drama is indeed revolutionary!