Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
1/7/07
When
we hear the words “The end of the world”, the picture that comes to mind
is generally of a flash, an explosion, an apocalypse that snuffs out all
life on the planet in an instant. Sure, some of us might linger after
a nuclear or asteroid strike for a few weeks or months, but suffice it
to say, it'll be quick, and it'll be painful. Without ever really
explaining how or why, Alfonso Cuaron asks us to consider an entirely different
doomsday scenario in Children of Men: one in which everyone
on Earth will simply live out their lives with no future generations to
replace us.
It's
the year 2027, and no child has been born anywhere on Earth for 18 years.
In England, society teeters on the brink of collapse under the weight of
its' own despair while an autocratic government tries to focus everyone's
energy on a crusade against immigration. Theo Faron (Clive Owen)
used to be an anti-government activist, but he's now settled into a life
of literally hopeless office drudgery and hanging out with his aging hippy
friend Jasper (Michael Caine). One day, he's grabbed by masked thugs
and brought to meet his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), part of what is
now a full-blown resistance movement, who asks Theo to help get travel
papers for a young immigrant woman named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey).
Alas, he can only secure papers allowing her to travel in his company and
soon enough he knows her amazing secret: she's pregnant. The
government would surely seize such a miraculous baby born to one of “them”,
and Kee's only hope for a life with her baby is to reach the shore, where
a boat sent by the mysterious Human Project will take them both to safety.
But the trek across the increasingly mad countryside will be more dangerous
than either of them imagines.
We
watch movies set in the future all the time, but it's hard to think of
too many times when I felt like I was actually there. Children
of Men had just that effect. Cuaron shoots his action sequences
with virtuoso long takes that make the movie feel almost like a documentary.
Although there's very little graphic gore, the action is intense and immediate,
and I spent much of the last half hour with my hand over my mouth in suspense.
Perhaps because the characters are civilians rather than the soldiers one
generally sees in the middle of cinematic war zones, I really felt the
danger lurking around every corner, and the long takes offer no respite
from the constant assault Theo and Kee must evade. At one point, the blood
of an unknown character even dots the screen for a few moments. Also
aiding the movie's cause are awesome special effects, so well integrated
that there's only one moment in the film I absolutely knew was created
with CGI (I'd tell you what it is, but you wouldn't REALLY want to have
one of the movie's highlights spoiled).
The
performances are very effective: Owen really nails the hopeless malaise
of knowing that once you're gone, it's OVER. He also nicely finds
the terror of being an Average Guy in the middle of all the violence and
action around him. Rarely have I seen an action hero look so convincingly
terrified. Ashitey turns in a perfectly unaffected performance as
a woman who's turned inward because of all she's been asked to endure.
Moore turns up the star power in a role that requires little else, while
Caine adds a gentle and necessary humor. The movie knows that no
one is ever so truly heartbroken that they never laugh at all, and the
occasional chuckle makes the despair all the more real.
Once
the smoke has cleared, it's surprising how little has really happened in
Children
of Men, but the film swallowed me up in all its' little details of
a nightmare future and really got me thinking about children and the importance
of the generational cycle to our societal sense of self. Add to that
the fact that it's a slam-bang action thrill ride and you've got the recipe
for a first-rate sci-fi thriller. Following his stellar work on Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Alfonso Cuaron is emerging as one
of our best genre filmmakers, and I can't wait to see what he has in store
for us next. |
