The Roads to Perdition

A Fatherly & Emotional Gangster...

By now, you would have realised my penchant for films, especially of the revenge category. It is always something about revenge, of the vastness for human hatred to stretch beyond what is possible in order to lift us above our socio-economic stations, to overcome physical and mental difficulties and to enact in ourselves the grace of the Godly in sometimes morally wrong acts all for the sake and reason of revenge. 

I am attracted to that as much as anything, the rise and destruction of others enthrals me; captured on film it shows both the best and worst of man as well the capabilities and cowardice of man that we seldom are able to explore in reality.

This leads me to the Mendes film “Road to Perdition”, one of those little known but emotionally compelling and exquisitely crafted film about the gangster ideal.

The Gangster Cliche ain't it?

Here is a brief plot summary from Empire.com: Following a messy murder, hit man Michael Sullivan is betrayed by the man he called father, formidable Irish hood John Rooney. Leaving behind a murdered family and with a killer on his tail, Sullivan goes on the run, hungry for revenge.

John Rooney: There are only murderers in this room! Michael! Open your eyes! This is the life we chose, the life we lead. And there is only one guarantee: none of us will see heaven.

I chose this line because it resonates so heavily with the double-entendre in the title, what is the road to perdition? A town? A final state? Or the result of the revenge?

Perdition [per-dish-uhn]   noun

1. a state of final spiritual ruin; loss of the soul; damnation.

2. the future state of the wicked.

“Road to Perdition" is a title with dual meanings. In literal terms, Perdition is the name of the town to which Michael Sullivan and his only surviving son, Michael Sullivan, Jr., are headed. However, Perdition is also a euphemism for Hell, and in that regard, the road is one Michael Sullivan prays he can keep his son from travelling on their lonely road for revenge.

So, this leads to my thought for the day, choice. We all have choices, each a fork in the proverbial road of life that brings us to another decision, another state, each with differing results. For me, I could have chosen to go to two wholly separate ways in my youth. One was to follow the road set and advocated by my parents and my own pride for the International Baccalaureate diploma and then one of the Top 25 Universities. The other advocated by my peers of the time and my own personality was to remain complacent in my own bubble and Auckland.

No, I’m not putting down my home but for a 13-yr old success meant the world, it meant New York, London not Auckland. If I had stayed would I have been like Mike Sullivan mired in the world of gangster-dom as a hit-man for Rooney, leaving his family no choice. I didn’t want that for my future, I wanted a different life. Like it or not, New Zealanders lead a rather complacent life, with an easy-going lifestyle. I knew that to satisfy my own ambition and attain my goals I needed a wider and bigger platform where others were driven and focused each for their own success.

The message from Michael the father to Michael the son is that you get to choose the road you're on in this life, but don't choose what I have chosen…the road I've been on all my life. Somewhere in my past, I made the choice to go in a certain direction, and it leads right to perdition.

True, very little of us end in perdition but I think the message applies to all of us. We have the choice to make something with our brief time on this Earth, to bring our families and ourselves out and beyond our set roads to something truly worthwhile.

It is your own legs that walk your own road, why let other legs dictate that for you?