Movie Reviews
For the crowd who hunts for the movie that completely wraps them into the action and transports them to that specific time and place, Children of Men is their masterpiece.
Indeed Alfonso Cuarons new film is the work of a born filmmaker; there are maybe four or five other directors who could have pulled off a movie like this, and certainly not with the same emotion or gusto or realism.
Children of Men takes us to 2027, roughly 18 years after the last human was born. At this point, mankind literally has no future. Every woman on earth has mysteriously and unexplainably become infertile much like an unexplainable virus that changes people into zombies in Dawn of the Dead. This is a scary concept with the notion that womens bodies are theirs to do with what they please, allied with the outbreak of such epidemics as AIDS. Its not so hard to wonder whether or not infertility is a radical consequence in our future.
Opening with a stunning (I use that word a lot; I mean it this time) one-take shot, we follow our lead character, Theo Faron (Clive Owen), into a coffee shop and out onto the street where seconds later that very coffee shop explodes, sending shrapnel shooting into the street and engulfing cars and cyclists in debris. The immediate direct cut to the main titles is a small hint to the attitude of the film, which is shocking to say the least.
Theo is basically kidnapped by his ex-wife, Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore). They were activists during their marriage and now Julian wants Theos help in transporting a miraculously pregnant woman named Kee (Clair-Hope Ashitey) to the sea where rumors tell of the Human Project, an organization of scientists who would study the newborn in hopes of ending the widespread infertility.
Troubles occur: the woman pregnant is a fugee, or a refugee, who has come to Britain illegally. At this point, Britain is the top world power, but is overrun by fugees. In response the British government has established a zero-tolerance fugee policy in which all fugees are immediately transported to makeshift prisons. If Kee is reported, shell be thrown into a prison and the baby will die.
Amid this, the entire world is littered with isolated wars. Militant terrorist organizations have sprung up, blowing up buildings and killing the innocent in the name of fertility, or out of despair for their future. Theo escorts Kee into this inescapable ring of violence.
Let me suggest this immediately; Children of Men might as well be categorized as a war film. It is a nail-biter, but makes us bite our nails for reasons we dont like. It is a white-knuckler, but leaves us gripping the arm of our chair because were tensed up. This is not a happy film none of it.
The look of the film achieves beauty through gray pallets and shades of dark blues and blacks. Cuarons cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is fundamentally responsible for the stark, depressing mood of Children of Men, and thus responsible for how easy it is to believe in this world.
Cuaron has made one of the years outlandish pictures, but the extraordinary thing about it is how tangible the world is. Not for a moment did I question the plausibility of the futuristic aspects; its a factor that Minority Report aced as well. Hints of the future are present in large doses, with the accents of obsolete appliances sporting modern updates. Theres a fantastic, brief encounter with a computer whose keyboard is built into the desk the monitor sits on, and the keys are flat and light up when touched.
Aside from minute gestures like that, Children of Men is filmed as a grim reality. This isnt a gimmick, nor is it winking at its audience. Its hardcore in its imagery, featuring sequences of punctual violence both frank and unexpected. This is a not a film for the faint of heart, but for the person that can find uplift in ambiguous plot conclusions and dire character ends. Its a film where every character is expendable, but one that brings us an undisputed vision of a subject that, in the hands of another director, would seem ridiculous.
Unfortunately, the darkness of this movie spills over. I left Children of Men exhausted and hopeless, wishing some of those likable, determined characters were still alive. But again, if the tragedy was not so felt, Cuarons film would probably be rendered less effective. This is a movie fueled by the decisions of its director; decisions that dictate its eye-popping, heart-stopping content. And for sheer direction, heres a movie filmmakers will be talking about for years. ***