I appreciate your perspective and thoughtful responce. I feel that you are taking a optimistic view. In no way do I mean to be condescending or offensive to you.
However, when I view that film, I cant get past the canibalism, live food storage, brutality, survival of the fittest mentality and hoplessness that seems to run thru the whole film.
The wife cant cope and walks into the storm to die, The father stoicly trys to protect and nurture his son. Yet how can he shelter him? The boy asks something like "we arent like them right? we are the good guys" Yet when faced with the choice between nobility and practicality the father chooses practicality to maintain his sole goal of protecting his son.(he pushes the naked vistims back into the basement rather than setting them free) to better his chance of survival.
What humanity is this? Do the ends justify the means?
When the mother and daughter are being surrounded by the hunters, what lesson about humanity does he teach when he shelters the son and allows the others to be captured. The mother and daughter were clearly ina similar situation to he and his sons....no smarter or more foolish just less lucky. He is powerless to save them.
The father is mortally wounded and commits a unintentionally horrific act with the flare gun, and more lives and bits of hope are snuffed out.
His anger leads him to indirectly sentence a thief to his death when he takes the thiefs clothes in winter weather. Are they still the good guys?
Finally the father dies and the child is left alone, we see no end to the calamity that is befalling the earth, the skies are still grey, the temperature sub zero, the roving bands of marauders would seem to make the hope of planting food impossible. The limited canned food left will soon be gone.
Suddenly a family shows up and offers to let the boy join them. Is this hope the father had taught the son to avoid strangers. How will this family survive with another mouth to feed?
I honestly felt that the producers or the studio behind the film said thats it, no way you are ending it with the fathers death, we need some hope in the film....insert a dirty but happy middle class family...the first surviving family unit we see in the film that arent perverted or canibalistic...and have them take him in, otherwise this is too dark and people will want their money back.
Perhaps im cynical and have missed the point to the film. I appreciate and admire that you could view it differently. Personally I couldnt get past how quickly humanity is lost when the situation becomes unbearable.
OK sorry for the heavy post...
Damn lets get back to hot bods, cute sps, t and a, and lighter fair like denzel washingtons apocalyptic film.