breaking the MOLD

I keep asking myself why I've never noticed how stellar Kate Winslet is. Maybe I've been living in a cave or perhaps bogged down with thesis papers or simply 'living' life myself. Whatever the reasons, lately I've become a great admirer of hers. She is spectacular in every film I've watched her star in and there's no mistaking that she is legendary. I can't say enough about Winslet that hasn't already been said. She proves time and time again that acting is more than just a job. Great acting is an intrinsic natural force, it's an art form and it's who Kate Winslet is.

All of that takes me to Revolutionary Road (2008), directed by Sam Mendes. Set in 1950's America, Winslet plays the role of the less than cheerful April Wheeler, a housewife who is painfully unfulfilled with her 'ordinary' life. Her husband Frank, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is just as unfulfilled but he plays the game well: the corporate job, the 2 story white house in the right neighborhood and the 2.5 kids. They are living the quintessential 'American Dream' to the outside world. Inside, they are dying to break out of their confined roles. By becoming trapped into who they've never wanted to be, each pay an earth shattering price that changes their lives forever.

What I love about Revolutionary Road is it's underlining theme of expectations: EVERYONE'S. It is the timely tale of what happens to a dream deferred and fortunately, for me, the film doesn't end in the traditional 'happily ever after' Hollywood norm. From the outset, Winslet rides an emotional roller coaster, changing gears with each discovery that threatens to tear her future in two. As the world encroaches and reprimands the Wheelers for wanting more than their current existence, despair and desperation take over, trampling over every thing they've ever wanted to be.

Mendes' use of the camera is so powerful, I felt my own heartstrings being tugged in a few different directions. The aftershocks of an unplanned pregnancy, an illegal abortion and the insightful utterings of a psychiatric patient (John Givings) are each framed so well that their believability is unquestionable. Revolutionary Road is a cautious tale. It gave me more than I could have ever imagined: a reminder that Life is meant to be lived by one's own rules rather than by the design of others.

My favorite lines by Winslett:
It's unrealistic for a man with a fine mind to go on working year after year at a job he can't stand. Coming home to a place he can't stand, to a wife who's equally unable to stand the same things. And you know what the worst part of it is? Our whole existence here is based on this great premise that we're special. That we're superior to the whole thing. But we're not. We're just like everyone else! We bought into the same, ridiculous delusion. That we have to resign from life and settle down the moment we have children. And we've been punishing each other for it.