Sullivan and Connor go to a warehouse for a meeting with Finn McGovern, a disgruntled employee. Twelve-year-old Michael Sullivan, Jr.hides in his father's car and witnesses Connor kill McGovern in a fit of rage. Sullivan swears his son to secrecy, but Connor decides to hush these witnesses forever. He murders Sullivan's wife Annie and the couple's younger son Peter, mistakenly thinking he has murdered young Michael. Sullivan and his remaining son flee to Chicago.
Sullivan requests a job with Capone's mob. He asks permission of crime kingpin Frank Nitti to seek revenge on Connor, who has been sent into hiding. The offer is rejected. Rooney is aware of the meeting and allows Nitti to dispatch assassin Harlen Maguire to kill Sullivan. Maguire, a psychopath who likes to photograph his victims, tracks Sullivan and son to a roadside diner but misses a chance to make the hit. Knowing now that Nitti has sided against him, Sullivan begins robbing the banks that hold the Capone and Rooney syndicate's laundered money, hoping to trade it for Connor. Michael Jr. drives the getaway car at the holdups.
Maguire sets a trap with the aid of Rooney's accountant, Alexander Rance. On the day Sullivan comes to Rance's hotel room, Rance stalls him until Maguire can arrive. Rance is killed in the crossfire of the ensuing gunfight. Maguire also falls, his face peppered with fragments of glass, though he manages to shoot the escaping Sullivan in the arm before collapsing.
Michael drives his father to a farm where a childless elderly couple helps Sullivan to recover. During his recuperation, Sullivan discovers that Connor has been embezzling from his father for years, using the names of dead gang members to hide his activities. As the Sullivans depart, they give the couple much of the remaining money from the bank robberies.
Rooney is surprised by Sullivan while attending Mass. He acknowledges that he already knows about the embezzlement and that this must end with Connor's death, but still refuses to be the one to give up his son. That night, cloaked by darkness and a driving rain, Sullivan dispatches Rooney's entire entourage with his Thompson submachine gun and then walks up to Rooney himself, who says "I'm glad it's you". With tears in his eyes, Sullivan pulls the trigger. Seeing no further reason to protect Connor now that Rooney is dead, Nitti reveals his location to Sullivan, making him promise that this will be the end. Sullivan goes to the hotel where Connor is hiding and kills him to complete his full circle of revenge.
Sullivan decides to drive Michael Jr. to a relative's beach house in Perdition, a town on the shore of Lake Michigan. Here he is ambushed and shot by a disfigured Maguire, who has survived the hotel shootout. Michael Jr. shows up and points a gun at Maguire, but cannot bring himself to fire. The standoff ends when Sullivan draws a hidden gun and kills Maguire before dying in his son's arms. Mourning his father's death, Michael Jr. finds his way back to the elderly farm couple that looked after them. He then realizes that his father's greatest fear was that Michael would grow up to be just like him.
How this relates to my radio play?
-Content: The idea of Father and sons and doing everything to keep the ones you love safe.
-Dialogue: At the end of the film Michael Sullivan Jr (the son) narrates his life and tells the story as he grew up on the farm-It almost sounds like a diary entry which is similar to the ending of my play
- Genre: War between people and Trust
- Characterisation: Michael Sullivan Sr: Relation to Emmett. Michael Sullivan Jr: Relation to Billy. Annie Sullivan: Relation to Marie. Harlen Maguire and Connor Rooney: Relation to Rory.
The Road to Perdition relates to my radio play because it carries the theme of Father and son relationship not only between Michael Sullivan and his son ( Michael Sullivan Jr believes that his younger brother is the favourite son) but the relationship between John Rooney , Michael Sullivan and Connor Rooney. In this film Daniel Craig's character is jealous of his Father's relationship with his friend (who Tom Hanks plays)- because Rooney prefers Michael to be his son instead of Connor and how he see's his son as an embarrassment because of his behaviour.
It is also similar through the way this film tells the story of a Father trying to protect his son from a number of people hunting them down- this is similar to Billy protecting Helena and her family from the Germans and the horror of the camps. The endings are also simialr through the way you hear Michaels narration about how he lead his life and how Helena carried on with out Billy through Billy's narration.
The characterisation similarities:
Michael Sullivan Sr. relates to Emmett through the way both are murderers and do horrific jobs however they clearly have a family who don't know about what they do. If they also hold a grudge they will both keep it until the job is done.
John Rooney character also relates to Emmett as both characters favour another as a son figure instead of their own which is evident as John Rooney favours Michael and Emmett favours Rory. They are also embarassed of what their sons do and behave as John Rooney disapproves of his son being violent and Emmet refuses Billy to achieve his dream and carry on being in thew army.
Michael Sullivan Jr: Relates to Billy because both are dismissive about what their fathers do however they both want to make their Father proud when with them. They also discover that their fathers favour someone else (Michaels brother Peter and Rory).
Connor Rooney is similar to Rory as both are violent when given a job and they both loose their temper easily. They both feel high in status and almost invinsible in what they do.
Harlen Maguire is similar to Rory because both are violent and like witnessing people's pain. They are both murderers and appear to take the job in hand seriously. The hunt never stops with both of them as they carry out their missions throughout both stories.
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