Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Movie Review: Children of Men

Will tomorrow ever come?

By John P. Meyer

What happens to human societies when women can no longer conceive, and it's clear that the currently living human generation will be the world's last? Well, judging by Alfonso Cuarón's nightmarish pre-apocalyptic thriller Children of Men, they careen down the road to hell in an hybrid-electric handcart.

Children of Men

A futuristic society faces extinction when the human race loses the ability to reproduce. England has descended into chaos, until an iron-handed warden is brought in to institute martial law. The warden's ability to keep order is threatened when a woman finds that she is pregnant with what would be the first child born in 27 years.

Source: Cinema Source

• Showtimes and more on Children of Men

With his latest film, Mexican-born Cuarón - best known for his direction of Y tu mamá también and, more recently, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - makes the eloquent and convincing argument that humanity's primary talent lies in its genius for self-destruction. Cuarón shares screenplay credit with several others; the source material is a novel of the same name by British literary matriarch P.D. James.

As the world's remaining population inexorably ages, governments (in particular Great Britain, where the story takes place) unfurl their misanthropic colors by slamming closed borders, rounding up undocumented aliens (and assorted other undesirables) and confining them in dead-end, gestapo-worthy refugee camps. Meanwhile, dissident groups fight back by waging propaganda wars, kidnapping officials and generally making homicidal nuisances of themselves.

People throw things - rocks, vegetables, bombs - it's so untidy! Those who are rich or clever enough find ways to hide out or protect themselves, withdrawing from the poisoned mainstream and - as one castle-kept character puts it - just trying not to think about it all.

Onto this stage, where the world's last baby was born 18 years ago, appears Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), a Fijian refugee on the run and bearing secret cargo - in her womb. Kee is being husbanded by a radical/terrorist/humanist (take your pick) group called The Fish, who advocate... well, I'm not sure exactly what they advocate, aside from an overthrow of the repressive exclusionist government, and maybe that's explanation enough. The Fish want to use Kee and her baby for their own political purposes, but Kee's mentor, Julian (Julianne Moore), has arranged for her to be delivered into the enfolding arms of a near-mythical group known as The Human Project.

This shadowy international organization purports to be working on the whole women-can't-make-babies problem at the highest scientific levels, only - and here's the rub - no one knows for sure whether they actually exist. They're kind of like the UFO's of the 2020's, hovering just out of sight (offshore) and - if we're lucky - preparing to throw us a line at the last possible moment to save us from our suicidal, world-destroying selves.

In the present instance, Kee and her companions must travel cross country past government checkpoints and bands of bloodthirsty rebels in order to reach their rendezvous on the coast. Her protectors include the aforementioned Julian; midwife Miriam (Pam Ferris, playing an aging whacked-out eastern mystic flower child who practices tai chi with an endearing lack of balance); and last-minute recruit Theo (Clive Owen), a former activist and ex-husband of Julian who was recruited because his cousin, Nigel, is in a position to obtain travel papers for our pregnant heroine.

Will they make it to the coast and achieve redemption for all mankind? It's touch and go (mostly touch - of the violent, battering ram sort), with Cuarón doing his cinematic best to convince us that their cause is a hopeless one. And yet...

Clive Owen is haunting as Theo, a beaten-down pulp of a man whose passion for life is fanned from a fading ember back into full flame by the magnitude of the mission before him; he seems to draw strength from the hopelessness of his (and his companions') quest. Theo is supported in his efforts by Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine, as a gray-haired John Lennon-like pot cultivator), who paves the way (with cannabis) to the coast for Theo and his charges.

The violent action is unrelenting and frighteningly real, and the cast of characters sustain one fatality after another as they struggle against various armed interest groups to reach their destination: a boat named Tomorrow. I'm not going to tell you whether Tomorrow ever comes, because you owe it to yourself to see this outstanding movie; much of the thrill of watching Children of Men is realizing that it's a dark, dark tale, and speculating on just how dark it's going to end up being.

GRIM IMAGERY: people in cages; glimpses of desperation and inhumanity viewed through passing bus windows; ruins of an abandoned school

HOPEFUL, SEASONALLY APPROPRIATE IMAGE: a pregnant woman in a stable

NAIL-BITINGEST ESCAPE SEQUENCE: the un-motored push-car chase down the hill from The Fish's country stronghold

FROM THE "THAT'S AN UNDERSTATEMENT" FILES: "What a day." - Theo to Kee, as evening fog shrouds their open rowboat

Related stories

• Movie review: Flash of Genius (Oct. 3, 2008)
• Movie review: Blindness (Oct. 3, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Arts > Movies / Film

Comments

Laura Evans Staff

This was such an intense movie, and the scariest thing was I could completely see it happening - with or without infertile women.

2 years, 10 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

John Meyer Staff

Agreed, Laura - but things are so much more entertaining WITH infertile women, I've always found.

2 years, 10 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )