Road To Perdition Movie Analysis

"Road to Perdition" is a graphic novel written by Max Allan Collins. This novel was made into a movie also called Road to Perdition. Although they have the same name, they do not have the same message. I will be discussing the two very different themes between the novel and the movie. The novel has a very strong Catholic based theme with a heavy dose of revenge. The movie has more of a Protestant feeling and is focused on the father-son relationships. There are many differences between the novel and the movie; within the theme we see changes in the religious content, the father-son relationships and how the theme changing influenced the ending of the movie. The variations between the themes drastically change how we view the characters and the message of the movie.

In the graphic novel, the main character is Michael O'Sullivan also known as 'The Angel of Death'. This plays heavily with the Catholic feel of the book; hence the reference to an angel. In the movie, he is known as Michael Sullivan with no other names associated; the movie briefly discusses how just his name brings fear to the hearts of others. In the movie, Michael Sullivan is a family man who seems decent but in the novel, he is an angry, aggressive, killing man who is hell bent on revenge. In the movie, O'Sullivan is a very religious man. He relies on his Catholic faith to help him feel better about his sins; we see this when at confession, he lights an equal number of candles to the number of men he has killed. O'Sullivan believes that although he is taking someone's life, confessing his sins and asking for forgiveness will give him a pass into heaven. We can see this because in the novel, he tells his son "we can all leave this world in a state of forgiveness". ...

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...esperately doesn't want him to follow in his footsteps. This changes our perception of the father; we no longer see him as kind of cold and secluded but rather as a self-giving family man.

The theme in the book and the theme in the movie differ greatly. The book was focused on sin and redemption whereas the movie was about father-son relationships. The movie played on the drama whereas the book played on the revenge. These differences change the message in the movie. They also change how we view the characters. I believe that these changes were made to the movie to help add a more relatable aspect. Audiences today are not going to want to watch a heavily religious movie but they definitely will watch father-son drama. These changes may have changed the original message of the novel but it made the movie more relatable and therefore more enjoyable for the viewers.