Review of Room (2015) by Michael F — 04 Mar 2016

Based on Emma Donoghue's novel of the same name, Room showcases the intense bond between mother and child, illustrated through an inspiring and hopeful tale of survival and courage.

The film opens with Jack, played by Jacob Tremblay, celebrating his fifth birthday with mother Joy, played by Brie Larson. We soon discover that their location has been the same since his birth, a 10×10 ft. garden shed with an electronically locked door and a skylight as the only window. Larson's character has been held captive there for the past seven years, after being tricked and abducted by "Old Nick" while walking home from school.

Together, Jack and Joy spend every day creating the best life their situation affords. Jack names and speaks to inanimate objects around the room, as well as the occasional rodent or insect. Although they have a television and limited cable, Jack only understands what the shows depict as being in a separate "TV world," due to having absolutely no contact with anything or anyone outside the shed. To him, "Room" is pretty much all that is real.

Joy comes to terms with the fact that she cannot allow her son to continue the life they've endured and hatches a plan to free him by faking his death. As he's being driven to a burial site, Jack escapes Old Nick's truck and, despite the utter shock at seeing the world outside, manages to give the police enough information to find and free his mother.

Having lost the last seven years of her life, Joy must now begin the struggle of recuperating, while somehow finding a way to help a significantly under-developed son assimilate into the real world.

Part of the film's strength is its ability to indirectly inform the audience as to Jack and Joy's situation. This helps create a dark and perilous atmosphere throughout the first half of the movie without venturing too close to being outright disturbing, which would discourage more faint-hearted viewers. For instance, Jack's father is Old Nick, a result of his nightly visits to rape and abuse his mother. This is found out not through graphic scenes of brutality, but rather is revealed through reasonable deduction. Joy puts Jack to bed in a closed wardrobe shortly before Nick's arrival every night. He is told strictly not to come out until she returns and instead only hears what goes on between them in the other bed.

At the center of this survival story is hope. This is where Larson earned her Academy Award nomination and win for Best Actress. Despite the peril of her situation and the possibility of never escaping her torture and giving her son the life she desires for him, Joy never gives up. She tries to be kind to her abuser so he will continue bringing food and random gifts for her son. She reads Jack complex novels and explains cartoons like Dora the Explora to help him learn language skills. When Old Nick visits in the night to force himself on her, she doesn't resist so that what Jack does hear, and perhaps see, will not confuse or frighten him. She repeatedly combats emotional fragility with strength and forgiveness for the sake of her son.

Like fellow Best Picture nominees, The Martian and The Revenant, this film highlights the triumph of the human spirit. While Joy doesn't survive a vicious grizzly bear attack or being left to die on Mars, her struggle is just as admirable. The most virtuous and most despicable aspects of humanity each have their turn to shine in this film, but it's the hope that Joy grasps so tightly that ultimately puts her in the position to make a better life for herself and her son.