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On The Road, A film about the Beat Generation
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The film is based on Jack Kerouac's novel of the same name, a book that was a symbol of the "Beat Generation" in the late 1940s. The protagonists speak to us about life, a word that they understand as a continuous journey in search of freedom and intense emotional experiences. Their main aims are avoiding routine and monotony, living with no limits and breaking the established social norms.
Sal wants to be a writer. After his father dies, he meets Dean, a young and enchanting boy but also a transgressor who is determined to do anything to feel something new. Sal, Deans and Marylou, Dean's girlfriend, start a series of journeys along the U.S. A., looking for both new experiences and finding themselves. At the end, each one of them will finish according to their own personal backgrounds.
The film is the chronicle of a generation whose flag was idealism and creativity. It was a group of young people who cried out for a new social order, for a new society but had a sad end.
Visually, the production is really neat and has good shots and an excellent music track. However, it sometimes looks too dependent on the text of the book.
Does Walter Salles, the director, accomplish to transmit the essence of Kerouac's novel? Does he risk in his film as much as the author did in the book? Do the characters manage to convey their feelings? Or, on the contrary, there is a lack of ideology in their voices (nevertheless Marcel Proust was their reference author). These are the questions that the members of the audience, depending on their own experience and knowledge, will have to appreciate.
Núria Farré. facebook@cinemaperaestudiants.cat
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