s both the audience and the characters into the moment of the action.
The "Scarface" score is especially adept at this last function: Especially in its re-released version (when the sights and sounds of the 1980s have begun to blur into nostalgia even for those who actually experienced them), the music calls to mind a specific era with great effectiveness.
The "Road to Perdition" score, on the other hand, is less effective at connecting the audience to a particular time and place but generally more effective at connecting us to the main character of the film. This is not a criticism of either film, for "Scarface" is less about a particular individual and more about an era while the reverse is true of "Road to Perdition". In each case the score reflects this focus.
In both films, the music acts as a sort of narrative, helping the viewer adjust to the ways in which time is sped up or slowed down by the director. The music tends to slow down in both films (but especially in "Road to Perdition") at psychologically key moments. We experience the way in which time itself seems to slow down during those moments in which an individual is called on to make key decisions because the music we hear makes us along with the characters on the screen.
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