Movie #33 Children of Men

I had the great pleasure of attending a movie at a small film fest this weekend.  The fest theme was "Bad Futures".  It consisted of 15 films over the course of 3 days.  The common thread between the films was dystopia.  Films that played were Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange, The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey and a slew of others including the film I saw Children of Men.

I had seen Children of Men once before on DVD.  I remember liking it, and I remembered some of the details.  Mostly what I remembered was a long single take of a war zone being interrupted by the cries of a baby.  Why would a baby crying cause a battle to cease?  It is the first baby most of the soldiers had ever seen.  The film is set in Britain in the near future.  For some unexplained (most likely unknown) reason mankind had lost it's ability to reproduce.  The "fun" part of the movie is that it really doesn't matter why humans can't make babies, what matters is how would we cope when the youngest person on the planet is slightly over 18 years old.

Children of Men does not exist in a Blade Runner futuristic world, nor does it have the conceptual complexities  that The Matrix presents.  This is a simple story of survival in a world not unlike the one that we live in now.  The largest effect this global neutering seems to have had is a strict nationalism.  Britain has closed it's borders and any immigrants are being caged up and shipped out.

This movie rocked my world.  I was completely engulfed from the first 10 minutes.  The movie is brilliantly directed  and written by Alfonso Cuaron and stars Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, and Chiwetel Ejiofor (one of my favorite working actors).  Cuaron's camera work is haunting and disturbing.  There are at least 5 scenes with a near 10 minute unbroken take.  There is one scene in particular where the group is in the car and things start to go wrong, it intimacy and shock and realism of this scene left my hands shaking.

Clive Owen gives the performance of his career in movie.  He is perfectly understated while retaining an interest that can't be avoided.  I found I was putting myself in his shoes (or flip flops) very early on in the movie.  Michale Caine pays his hippie father and allows for some great comedic moments to counterbalance the pessimistic outlook.  Owen's character in the movie, Theo, get recruited by a renegade group headed by Julianne Moore.  He is to supply traveling papers for a young black woman with a secret.  His motive is simple.  The renegades are offering money and he needs money.  As part of the arrangement he ends up having to escort this young woman.  This is where all hell breaks loose.  Cuaron allows his protagonist to make bad decisions, and fumble around.  He really is the futuristic "Joe six-pack".  You can't help but think "What would I do in that situation".  He doesn't act out of any "allegiances" or "codes" or "morals".  His actions are generated by his need to survive.  It is not until late into the movie where he really does anything that most people would consider courageous.  And even then he gets the rug pulled out from underneath him. It is the difference between "hero" and "protagonist".  Like a sci-fi Benjamin Braddock. 

I'm not sure if I simply have a better appreciation of cinema now, or if  seeing this film on the big screen made it so much more memorable.  But whatever it was I was hooked.  This will be joining my DVD collection very soon.  I give it a 5/5 stars!  Check out the link below for the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NikEQy1XxDE