Reservation Road (**½)

Directed by: Terry George (Hotel Rwanda)
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly, Mira Sorvino
Seen: September 7th 2008

**½ Out of ****

OK, to start this review, Reservation Road in a nutshell: Dwight (Ruffalo) is an attorney, ans is also divorced from Ruth (Sorvino), who is a teacher. Dwight has their son, Lucas, for weekends, but their relationship is taking some serious strain, with custody issues around Lucas coming into play. One Sunday after a baseball game at Fenway Park ran late, Dwight hurries to get Lucas back home on time, but on the way home on Reservation Road, he accidentally hits a little boy, josh Learner, with his car. Lucas wakes up and Dwight tells him it was a log in the road, but Dwight later hears on the news that the boy died.

Ethan and Grace Learner (Phoenix and Connelly) take the event very hard, and they are shattered to point of them slowly drifting apart. Ethan starts harassing the police for their inefficient investigation, but Grace tries to get on with a normal life. Ethan decides to hire a lawyer to assist him with the entire ordeal, to pressure the police, and strangely enough, the lawyer turns out to be Dwight.

Every time Dwight decides to turn himself in, he finds an excuse not to, and so the tension in his life builds to an unbearable point where confrontation becomes unavoidable. Dwight also believes that the only thing he has left worth living for, Lucas, will be lost to him if he is convicted of the crime. This is a very moving film, with Connelly’s small role in particular showing us how hard this type of event can be for a parent. I found the conclusion very satisfactory, and it is unfortunate that such a beautiful yet ultimately depressing film has had such limited success. Almost no-one knew about it or where really interested in it. If you get the chance, watch it, it is good.