# 3 Best of Film in 2002. New on DVD.
Not much is said about the mood and visual landscape of art. The Greeks believed that the heavens and the landscape were a reflection of how the gods were feeling or of the state of men’s hearts. For example, when the beautiful Persephone is kidnapped by the god of the Underworld, her mother Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, mourns her loss by ravaging the landscape so that it is bare. Such is the grief when one loses a loved one, or even their innocence. In many ways, this is the visual landscape of Sam Mendes’ film Road to Perdition, a masterful yet gloomy film about the loss of innocence and one man’s attempt to change his fate with the gods of the mob.
Perdition is about the father and son relationship of Mike Sullivan (Tom Hanks) to his god-father John Rooney (Paul Newman) and then his relationship with his own son Michael Sullivan. Mike had no family growing up. John Rooney (Paul Newman), the father of the mob, took him in under his wings. Mike ended up working for him. Now, Mike has a family. The oldest son, the 12-year-old Michael, has no idea what his father "really" does for a living and he wants to know. He's been told the usual story—Mr. Rooney took him in; he goes on important and sometimes dangerous assignments for him; etc.
Late one night, John, the younger brother, places the question into his head more firmly: "What does dad really do?" In a scene the next morning, at the breakfast table, the young John gets the courage to ask his father point-blank what he does.
His mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) immediately and forcefully replies: "He puts your food on the table, now eat."
Michael is too old for these vague answers. When he is around the mob family, he sees and hears things that lead him to believe that his father is a hit man. When his father announces that he can't attend his younger brother’s concert at school because he has to work, Michael hides in the car so that he can see for himself what his dad does. What Michael sees will change the landscape of his life forever. And in order to save what family Mike, the father, has left to him, he must decide where his loyalty will lie – with his son or his god-father. What results is a thrilling ride to try to win back a life away from the mob.
Two of the most memorable scenes in film this year are from this film. There is a scene near the end of the film in which the screen appears divided into two sections. Michael is on the right side of the screen, sitting on a bed, waiting for his father to return from his last job; hoping his father will return. The father, Mike, walks through the door and comes down the long hall on the left side of the screen. The father is consumed in shadows. His fidora hides his face. On the other side of the screen, the son is bathed in winter light, not strong, but luminescent. The contrast between the two seemed to be a visual representation of innocence and the loss of it.
Another of my favorite visual scenes is when Mike tells his son that he needs to go out just one more time, meaning that he's going to knock someone off. It is pouring rain outside. The light from the streetlight casts a shadow in the darkened room, leaving the impression on the walls and ceiling of the rain streaming down the window. It looks as if the walls are crying.
Sam Mendes truly created a visual masterpiece, making the artistry more poignant and meaningful because of the way in which a character's emotions were a reflection of the physical landscape.
