Ode to Roe – Movie Review: Revolutionary Road
January 19th, 2010The 37th Anniversary of Roe v Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States, is this coming Friday. To commemorate this landmark decision for reproductive health, we are celebrating with events, factoids on Twitter & Facebook, and dedicating Consensual Text to Roe.
Check out our list of some great abortion-related films.
There is one, though, we wanted to feature, set in an era when abortion was illegal: Revoluntionary Road.
Revoluntionary Road is based on the 1961 novel by Richard Yates with the same name. Our favorite, hot couple from Titanic reunites for the first time with an intense performance. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are a young, unhappy couple living in suburbia in the mid 1950’s. Frank (DiCaprio) is a businessman who absolutely hates his job, and April (Winslet) is a stay-at-home Mom who is equally dissatisfied. Fed up with their way of life, the two hatch a plan to move to Paris and start a brand new life together. However, an unexpected third pregnancy changes everything and examines just how far the couple is willing to go to achieve happiness.
The movie is a powerful, honest portrayal of what life was like pre-Roe. It reminds viewers of the lengths to which women actually went to end unwanted pregnancies, and the sometimes dire consequences that came with those choices. We highly recommend Revoluntionary Road–it reiterates the importance of legal abortion.
