A Fork In the Road

TERRY George sits in a well appointed guest suite at the Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue on Sunday afternoon dressed in a casual shirt and blue jeans as the television crews, journalists and film people line up to discuss his latest film Reservation Road, based on the novel by John Burnham Schwartz. It's a chaotic scene that's quickly brought to heel by the steely determination of George's no-nonsense support staff, which guides us from room to room on this impressive Hollywood junket.

Despite his many years in the U.S. George's Belfast accent is clear and unadulterated, as is his northern hospitality. "Would you like a coffee or something?" he asks right away, nodding at an impressive spread laid out by Focus Features, the film production company behind his latest flick.

George's last film Hotel Rwanda in 2005 was nominated for several Academy Awards, including a best original screenplay nod for George, and Reservation Road seems guaranteed to attract some serious consideration in both the directing and acting fields.

The plot is as simple as it is effective. On a beautiful September evening, Connecticut college professor Ethan Learner (Joaquin Phoenix), his wife Grace (Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly), their daughter Emma and their 10-year-old son Josh all stop at a gas station. There, in one sickening instant, a hit and run driver takes Josh from them.

Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) plays the ne'er-do-well father of a young boy - and the driver of the fatal SUV - and in the aftermath of the accident he panics and speeds away. Haunted by the tragedy, both fathers react in unexpected ways as a dangerous reckoning looms between them, and they are forced to make the hardest choices of their lives.

"This film is about the futility of revenge. It's about the way people can demonize the opposition, creating a monster that allows you to attack it," George told the Irish Voice.

"It's about the recognition in Joaquin's character of how futile revenge is. It's about what he has done to his own head in creating this monster."

George doesn't need to underline that these are timely themes. Nightly news broadcasts are crowded with international revenge dramas, and the same intense feelings of anger and resolve that animate the film animate our world.

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Nster.com