Reservation Road

If you want a statistics lesson in the small number of hit and run crimes which are solved in this country, you may want to watch this movie. If you are looking for a reason to take the law into your own hands, this movie might give you some inspiration. On the other hand, if you find very realistic suffering caused by the loss of a child, maybe this is not the best revenge story for you. If you enjoy a flashy uber-violent ending where the bad guy is eviscerated by the very weapons he used to impose suffering on his innocent and lovable victims, this movie is not for you. No, I did not just spoil the ending.

Now that my warnings are out of the way, and you have a better idea of where this movie fits in the scheme of things, I can get to how well done it is, and how well Director Terry George gets his points across without shouting at us from a soapbox. His work in Hotel Rwanda proved that point as well.

Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly do a masterful job of taking us through the range of emotions parents would go through after an accident like this. They also demonstrate how tough it is for a relationship to survive any traumatic experience that, while being the same on the outside, is internalized differently by each individual. Sometimes that difference cannot be emotionally reconciled by others.

Mark Ruffalo may be the bad guy here but his acting is so good it's almost hard to not like his character. Almost. I like how well he portrayed all the conflicting emotions that would be going on in the mind and soul of such a guilty person.

While the ending is not all that satisfying, it is tidy and believable.

Watch it with someone who will enjoy all the ironies of conflicting emotions and complexities of parent-child relationships.