by Trisha Mcfadden

Created on: July 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 21, 2009

It is July 2009 and having just watched "Revolutionary Road" last night and again this afternoon I have come to the conclusion that Leo DiCaprio was robbed on Oscar night.

As Frank Wheeler, Leonardo DeCaprio gives us one of the best performances of his career and one of the best of 2008. Who would you remove from the final five to make room for Leo? asked my son, the movie buff. Looking at the list I can easily remove Brad Pitt from the nominees. As I say this I want you to know "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" has become one of my personal favorite movies, but Brad Pitt's portrayal of the reversed aging man/child does not even compare to the performance I just watched in "Revolutionary Road".

Potential spoiler alert, read with caution.

DiCaprio plays a man who would be happy if only his wife would accept their "middle class" life as an accomplishment and not a punishment for bailing out on their youthful fantasies. Watching Frank Wheeler fight to control his temper when trying to reason with April, his wife, you find yourself holding your breath. Hoping, along with this man, that the woman he loves will not attack him with her disappointments again.

There are numerous scenes in this movie where DiCaprio uses the smallest of mannerisms to convey his thoughts or feelings. There are also fight scenes between Frank and April where there arguments come very close to becoming physical and you can see Frank's inner struggle to control his impulse to do something he knows he will regret.

The last day of the April Wheeler's life finds her making breakfast for her husband. This, after a night of fighting where April begged Frank to leave her alone in the woods outside their home so she can think. DiCaprio's Frank comes tentatively to the breakfast table exhausted from a sleepless night with a look of confusion, carefully searching his mind for a response to her simple question "Do you want your eggs scrambled or fried?" While they eat breakfast, April asks him questions about his work, something we have never heard her do. He responds with reserved enthusiasm, happy to have her interested in his job but nonchalant in his responses in case she is testing him. When he is finished, you can see in his body language he does not want to leave as if he knows how fragile the moment is. He tells her how much he enjoyed the "swell" breakfast and we can see on Frank's face there is a question he is holding back. As he reaches for his hat at the front door,

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