Added Value and 'The Road'

The Road is a movie set to the novel of the same name by author Cormac McCarthy (movie director Joe Penhall). The story is about a man and his young boy trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world battling starvation, loneliness, cannibals  and anything the new world has to throw at them. The visual setting is extremely bleak with dark hues of blue and grey; a desolate wasteland void of bright colors and life. This is where the added value of the sound (or should I say, lack of sound) becomes important. While there IS a musical soundtrack and special effects, a good portion of the movie is very quiet. Most of the sounds that are drawn to the viewers attention are either those of the man and the boy traveling or the environment around them (wind, dust, thunder, etc.). As a viewer, this really built a lot of tension for me because I felt completely exposed, like I was one of the characters in the film and I could hear every sound around me. (Surround sound is amazing for this movie) The silence made the important parts even more important because there was a clear contrast in sound. It was very noticeable when someone or something was around. Another thing that the silence did was help to build empathy for the characters. During the most 'human' scenes in the movie, I could not help but make an emotional connection as my focal point was on the characters themselves.  Beyond the silence, the score composers; Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, did a great job of adding mood to the scenes that needed music. During the scenes with the most intensity, their 'atmospheric' type compositions utilized a lot of high frequencies while the moments of solace or loneliness had a lot of lows and mids. Below is a link to the trailer and I hope you all get some time to check this movie out. 

http://youtu.be/hbLgszfXTAY