Welcome to Hell.

In The Road, a man and his son attempt to survive the grim horrors of a post-apocalyptic world, with nothing to rely upon except their love for one another.

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee are father and son, all that's left of a family and, perhaps, of civilization. Something catastrophic has happened to our planet.

The Road presents a blighted landscape with no explanation -- there are just brief glimpses, in flashback, of global destruction -- and sets upon that landscape desperate people attempting to survive.

Father and son move across a bleak countryside where everything is destroyed. (To replicate the end of the world and show a countryside that looks like the surface of the moon, the filmmakers used parts of Pennsylvania, Mt. St. Helen's in Washington and bits of post-Katrina New Orleans.)

Their daily routine involves finding enough things to eat to stave off death, and hiding from the human predators they encounter. The father has decided they should attempt to walk to the coast, where there might be better weather or more chances at food.

His ambition is to keep his son human. As the unnamed man, Mortensen's character teaches his son to scavenge for food, to protect himself and to cling to any human emotions in the way of charity and kindness that he can. (He also has to instruct the boy about how to shoot himself, should it come to that.) All around them are people who have turned to murder and cannibalism to survive, and Mortensen is determined to keep his child from both sides of that equation.

"Are we still the good guys? And we always will be?" asks the boy, for reassurance.

The Road presents snapshots of the past, with Mortensen's character either dreaming about his former life or describing it for the child's benefit. The two make their way toward the coast, searching deserted houses for food, speaking sometimes to some of the other people they encounter, hiding in terror from others. (The Road is not a thriller in any way, but several scenes are very frightening, both for the horrors they depict and for the human depravity they suggest.)

Throughout, the father keeps up a conversation about survival and guards against despair. "Do you ever wish you could die?" he asks one stranger they encounter.

"It's foolish to wish for luxuries in times like these," the stranger replies.

The Road sounds as if it would be the feel-bad movie of the year but, in fact, the movie is about life and hope. The ending doesn't sit right, and we could have done without the Coca-Cola product placement, but this film is worth seeing for the performances from Mortensen and gifted adolescent actor Smit-McPhee.

The excellent cast includes Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and Molly Parker.

The Road is based on Cormac McCarthy's novel.

(This film is rated 14-A)

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