What if women around the world suddenly became infertile? What if no babies were born again for a 20 year span or so? Well in the world of Children of Men society has gone to hell. Seattle has been in siege for 1000 days, apparently New York City has been nuked, and every major city around the world has crumbled. All except for Britain, but to keep order, the U.K has become a fascist police state. But as bad as things are all is not lost for humanity. A miracle! Unto us a child will be born! And that is where Clive Owen comes into the story. He plays Theo, a government bureaucrat who isn't as idealistic as he used to be due to a personal tragedy. But he is roped into helping the pregnant mother escape to safety. Obviously as she is an illegal immigrant (the film's word is fugee), it would be best for the government not to know this. But the radical group that is escorting her to safety may have ulterior motives...
Children of Men may be the bleakest vision of the future I've ever seen on film. The scariest part is that it's not entirely implausible. There are several visual references to things that seem to be part of today's daily life. We open with a jarring terrorist act that shows that we are in for a truly dystopian tale. There is a Department of Homeland Security. Illegal immigrants are to be reviled. And when you see detainees being forced onto their knees with black hoods over their heads, or nearly naked men huddled together at bay from a guard dog and don't think of Abu Ghraib, then you haven't been paying attention. We are never told why suddenly humanity cannot procreate. Is it a genetic anomaly? Radioactivity? Perhaps God does not feel our pathetic race with all our squabbles are deserving of bringing more life into this world. That is not the important issue.
From a technical standpoint the film is stunning. There is a scene where a car is ambushed and the camera never leaves the back seat of the car. Even more remarkable is during the climax of the film, where a single take follows Clive Owen desperately searching for where the new mother and her baby have been taken to while an uprising is going on. The camera follows him down alleyways as bullets fill the air and explosions rock the world. At one point, someone in the vicinity is shot and blood splatters the camera. The splotches stay on the lens for several more minutes giving the film a documentary style.
This is a quality movie all around. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine are just three of the standouts. And we know we're in pretty good hands when Alfonso Cuaron is sitting in the chair as he has also directed Y Tu Mama Tambien and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (On a side note, don't let any crazy Potter-maniac tell you that one sucked. It's by far the best of the bunch).
I recommend you to go see this movie as soon as it begins playing near you. I warn you though, it's not real happy. Although at the end there is some hope, we are left with few answers and no absolutes . Let us pray that we won't need any.
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