REVIEW: CHILDREN OF MEN
REVIEW: ALFONSO CUARÓN [ 2006 ] 109'
REVIEW: UNIVERSAL PICTURES
CAST: CLIVE OWEN, CLAIRE-HOPE ASHITEY,
CAST: MICHAEL CAINE, CHIWETEL EJIOFOR
PERSONAL RATING:
CRITICAL RATING:
WTF-FILMOMETER: REACHING NORMALITY

Theo Faron wanders into a crowded 2027 coffee shop in London and orders a cup - the rest of the customers are more interested in the headline of the day. The youngest man on the planet - 18 years old - has died at the hands of an enraged fan. Theo takes in the news but keeps moving and steps out of the crowded shop and to a newspaper caddy a short way from the shop to spruce up his coffee. Moments later a bomb explodes in the shop - Theo dashes for cover as an unidentified woman wanders out, crying and carrying her own dismembered arm.

And thusly begins one of the finest films of 2006 and one of the most brilliantly executed action films of all time. Director Cuarón's steady hand leads us quickly into the bleak future of 20 years from now and assures us from the get go that we, the audience, are in for quite a ride. Based on the book by P. D. James, CHILDREN OF MEN presents us with a world that is a direct progression from our own. Technology has advanced, but not by much, and the global war on terrorism has led the nations of the Earth to become quite paranoid and jingoistic indeed. The borders have been shut, permanently, and illegal immigrants are herded into shoddily constructed internment camps where all manner of atrocities take place.

Making matters worse is the inexplicable infertility of the entire population of Earth - the only element of the film that is truly fantasy in nature. CHILDREN OF MEN forgoes showing the immediate aftermath of the crisis, which occurred 18 years in the film's past, and opts instead to paint a scathingly realistic portrait of a paranoia riddled future that, with human extinction just around the bend, leaves little hope for anything at all.

Theo (Clive Owen), with his ears still ringing from the blast, is kidnapped by an underground group of political activists. Helmed by former flame Julian (Julianne Moore), the group has a job in store for him. For reasons that are not made clear in the beginning, Theo is asked to secure transport papers for an illegal immigrant from Fuji out of London and to the coast. A political activist himself in his younger years, Theo is initially uninterested but, given the involvement of Julian, eventually agrees.

Theo secures the necessary paperwork for the job from his cousin - a rich collector of art who resides in the former Battersea Arena (complete with the inflatable pig that graced the cover of Pink Floyd's album Animals) - but is forced by circumstance to escort the refugee personally. With Julian, fellow activist Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a nurse, and the immigrant (Kee, played by Claire-Hope Ashitey) in tow, he heads out of London in an SUV. It isn't long before they run into trouble. A veritable army of guerrillas blocks the road ahead of them with a burning automobile and begins an attack. The group escapes, but not without the loss of Julian to a pair of gun-toting motorcyclists.

Luke leads the group to a rural farm community - the home base of the political group known as the Fishes - and assures Theo that both he and his cargo will be safe there. Kee, who trusts Theo entirely, finally lets him in on why it's so important that she be gotten out of Britain. She's pregnant - the first woman to be so in over 18 years - and the plan is to get her to a group of secretive intellectuals in hopes that they can find out her secret and thusly save mankind from near certain extinction. Theo, while wandering about the farm at night, accidentally discovers that Luke isn't at all what he seems. It was he who ordered the assassination of Julian - his intention now is to kill Theo and take both the refugee and her as of yet unborn child for his own political purposes.

Theo will have none of this, however. He sabotages all but one of the group's automobiles and heads off on his own with Kee and the nurse, intent on getting Kee to the coast where a boat from the Human Project may or may not be waiting for them. Luke and his band of terrorists are in hot pursuit, as are the police (who blame Theo, among others, for the death of two officers in the aftermath of the attack that caused Julian's death), and Theo leads his small group of escapees across the countryside and into the bowels of an immigrant internment camp in a desperate attempt to get Kee out of the country.

CHILDREN OF MEN owes a great debt to the fiction of dystopian authors from Britain's past - hints of Orwell, Wyndham, and Christopher are present throughout. Indeed, the base plot of Christopher's DEATH OF THE GRASS (and subsequent film adaptation, NO BLADE OF GRASS) bares striking resemblance to that of this film - an inexplicable natural calamity forces a small band of people out of London to find a safe haven from which they hope to jump start humanity all over again. In this respect, the plot for CHILDREN OF MEN is anything but original and is easily the least of what the film has to offer. Particularly irritating is its inability to escape some of the tried and true cinematic contrivances - most notably Theo's just happening to overhear Luke's plan to off him and take the kid.

Whatever the film may lack in originality it more than makes up for in execution. The cinematography - helmed by Emmanuel Lubezki - is nothing short of amazing. A highly effective mix of handheld and static camera work lends considerable credibility to the production. Most impressive are the length of many of the action shots throughout the film. Of note in particular are the scene in which Julian is killed and a sequence in the end featuring Theo hunting for Kee as a battle between the British military and the Fishes rages on and off the streets. Both of these scenes are positively seamless and run for minutes without cutting. The most recent film that I can compare with this one in regards tot his technique is Spielburg's disappointing remake of WAR OF THE WORLDS [2005]. The initial alien assault in that film features an attempt by the production to create an equally seamless action sequence. Unfortunately it falls flat, with the cutting being covered up in obvious places and the shot transitions being anything but smooth. CHILDREN OF MEN succeeds, however, and the scenes mentioned above are two of the most impressive ever committed to 35mm.

Also making up for any shortcomings in the plot is the shear gritty realism of Cuarón's universe - while watching one can easily forgive the dubiousness of the narrative itself in light of the utter believability of the proceedings. Casting certainly helps as well. Owen puts in a wonderfully sincere performance as Theo and Ejiofor essentially replays his role from the excellent 2005 science fiction epic SERENITY. Ashitey is equally wonderful as Kee and Moore is excellent in the brief role of Julian. There is a minor quibble here, however, as many of these fine performers aren't given terribly much to do. Kee spends the majority of her screen time at the mercy of other cast members and a good number of the important characters in the film fail to be anything but two dimensional. This is a fault in the scripting and not with the cast itself, however, which does the best job I could ever have expected with the material at hand.

Alfonso Cuarón also deserves considerable commendation for his efforts here. Without his astute direction it's entirely possible that CHILDREN OF MEN could have gone the same way as any number of failed dystopian epics (the 1984 film version of NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR comes to mind). Also responsible for the most stylistically mature of the Harry Potter films (2004's HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, a film that's quite good in its own right and not nearly so unsatisfying as other entries into the series), Cuarón's style performs nothing short of a miracle on the source material. Hints of Louis Malle's excellent surrealist offering BLACK MOON [1975] are peppered throughout, notably in the opening credits and the initial scenes in which the cast is fleeing London.

While certainly not without its shortcomings (plot plot plot), CHILDREN OF MEN is nonetheless one of the most impressive cinematic achievements of recent years and ranks as one of the best action / suspense / survival films ever to grace the screen. Given the issues with the plot, I can't say how well it will stand up to repeat viewings but I can't deny that the experience of seeing it for the first time was nothing short of amazing for me. CHILDREN OF MEN is one of the best films of 2006 and it comes highly recommended from this reviewer.