Alfonso Cuaron creates a startling vision set two decades into the future with his mesmerizing new thriller ldquo;Children of Men rdquo; and sends a wake-up call to the world of today. Once again, the Mexican-born auteur proves there is no story that is beyond his cinematic telling whether it be a biting social commentary, a noirish crime drama, a beloved children rsquo;s classic, a modernist retelling of Dickens, an insightful road comedy, or a blockbuster magical tale. All of his filmic efforts bear the unmistakable imprint of a craftsman utilizing every tool within the medium to realize the story on the screen.
His latest effort is an adaptation of the esteemed British mystery writer P.D. James rsquo; downbeat science-fiction novel ldquo;The Children of Men.
rdquo; The film is set in Great Britain in 2027 where hope for the future is rapidly declining and it has been nearly 19 years since the last baby was born. With each passing year of inexplicable, global childlessness, mankind edges closer to giving up all claims to a future. While most people have chosen to embrace the inevitable and descend into separatism, lawlessness and nihilism, others fight on for a unified planet and the rights of the dwindling populations.
Theo Faron (Clive Owen), a former activist turned bureaucrat, has steeled himself against his painful past and the reality of a senseless future by settling into a state of numbness and simply ceasing to care. All of that abruptly changes when Theo rsquo;s former lover, Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore), now the head of a covert underground revolutionary group known as The Fish that fights for the rights of the refugee population, reemerges with an unusual request that pulls Theo out of his self-medicated haze and back into a life of having to care about something. Julian challenges the country rsquo;s stance on treatment of refugees and her contrary agenda renders her activist group ldquo;terrorists rdquo; in the eyes of the government and makes her a wanted criminal.
She asks Theo to obtain transit papers for Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), a young illegal refugee who needs to be smuggled safely out of the country. Theo agrees, for Julian rsquo;s sake and because the price is right, and soon finds himself accompanying Kee and a handful of Julian rsquo;s comrades on a treacherous journey past several security checkpoints to the coast where help from a mysterious off shore organization known as the Human Project awaits. But when Theo rsquo;s group is set upon by renegade members of Fish who want to use Kee for political gain, it quickly becomes clear that the streetwise young woman is more than just a refugee.
She is a symbol of hope that others are willing to die for.
At the heart of ldquo;Children of Men rdquo; are the hot-button issues of immigration, environment and fertility. In the world of the film, each has adversely affected the other and hope is an unaffordable luxury that merely brings heartache.
Once at the forefront of hoped-for change, burned-out activist Theo, who has never gotten over the death of his five-year-old son, has resigned himself to fitting into a harsh society with little foreseeable chance of survival. Despite his cold lead performance, Owens is convincing as the antihero who is thrown into increasingly dire situations that erode away his years of uncaring and reinvigorate the activist fighting for a cause. He plays a flawed human character who has given up on his journey but is suddenly, unexpectedly dragged into an extraordinary situation.
The battle to protect Kee gives Theo a second chance and helps him find his passion to care again. Kee and Theo become the unlikely champions of a future generation.
Michael Caine delivers a stand out performance as Jasper, Theo rsquo;s oldest friend and confidante who still maintains an activist rsquo;s stance on many of the issues now past Theo rsquo;s caring.
Jasper is a rebel against the system -- an aging hippie and political cartoonist whose home is hidden in the countryside where he cultivates his homegrown pot. Caine rsquo;s charming and eccentric character, who evokes shades of John Lennon, is the moral center of the film. His scenes possess a warmth that is missing from most of the other characters rsquo; lives.
Unlike them, he hasn rsquo;t given up and still struggles to keep that spark of life. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Luke, Julian rsquo;s second-in-command, who fights to retain the dignity of their group in the face of human conflict. Charlie Hunnam plays Patric, another member of Julian rsquo;s organization, a temperamental and passionate character who embodies the anger of the country rsquo;s last generation now faced with a bleak future.
Clare-Hope Ashitey, a 19-year-old relative newcomer from London, holds her own well opposite a veteran cast and proves a worthy on-screen partner to her more-seasoned cast mates. Peter Mullan turns in a nice cameo as the pragmatic, neo-fascist homeland security guard who plays both sides of the fence.
While P.
D. James cast her tale 30 years into the future, giving readers a more comfortable distance from which to view the alarming vision of mankind rsquo;s possible end, screenwriters Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby narrowed this window to 21 years, bringing the harrowing lsquo;what if? rsquo; closer to the world of today.
The script reveals the filmmakers rsquo; point of view that two elements are at the forefront of what is shaping our world today. One is the massive global migration of the world rsquo;s population and the firestorm of political positioning around the shifts (indeed, figures support that the migrations of the last 10 years are the largest the planet has ever seen). The second is the ripple effect from and the backlash against the more than 300 years of colonialism.
These current circumstances, when combined with additional conditions such as continental pandemics, rising international terrorism, and global changes in weather patterns, are flags that could signify a near future like the one conjectured in ldquo;Children of Men. rdquo;
Cuaron rsquo;s cautionary story takes place in the world of tomorrow but it is rooted in the very real world of today both in a poetic and a literal sense. The writers deliberately leave some key elements of the storyline ambiguous rather than providing more background.
For example, why is there an outbreak of infertility, what exactly is the Human Project and who are its shadowy members, who or what is responsible for the global collapse of society, and why has this futuristic, neo-fascist version of Great Britain attracted so many immigrants or lsquo;fugees rsquo; who wind up being imprisoned in curbside, Guantanamo-style holding cells awaiting deportation? As to whether or not the vision of the future as presented in ldquo;Children of Men rdquo; is bleak or hopeful, its writer-director sees the film as a mirror that reflects the mindset of the viewers taking in the story. Cuaron explains, ldquo;When we were creating our fictitious timeline leading up to the film rsquo;s beginning, some of the things we included in our history actually started happening ndash; we rsquo;d turn on the television and see images that we had included in our film, supposedly 21 years down the line.
But, I don rsquo;t want to give people any ideas or easy answers. Rather, I want to raise some questions for people to think about. So really, the movie is as hopeful about the future as you are.
rdquo;
Cuaron shoots as many long, uninterrupted sequences as possible in ldquo;Children of Men rdquo; and deliberately removes many of the rhythmic, artificial cuts associated with current cinema to allow for a more realistic, cinema verite style that takes full advantage of the frame rsquo;s potential. He holds the frame until there rsquo;s nothing left to tell while all the time following Theo rsquo;s perception of events as they transpire. He uses wide lenses and a highly kinetic, roving camera to give the proceedings an uncertain, often shocking frontline immediacy and thereby elicit an emotional response from the audience to the characters being portrayed in a certain space at a certain time.
Cuaron rsquo;s style demands a high level of choreography from cast and crew to orchestrate difficult, lengthy, near-documentary takes and intricate shots that result in a seamless look. Director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki worked with very little lighting and used handheld cameras to convey a feeling of being in the moment while following Theo on his turbulent journey.
Cuaron wisely chooses not to comment on the action, but rather to observe it and let the viewers draw their own conclusions.
Thanks to the efforts of an amazing camera operator, George Richmond, who was able to put the camera in incredible positions all by hand, the camera becomes like a curious, inquisitive person who follows the main character and imbues the film with a nervous, edgy tone. One of the film rsquo;s most challenging shots involves a 12-minute, single take sequence of dialogue and action filmed within a car carrying five passengers. The claustrophobic feeling of being under siege while trapped in a confined and inescapable space is palpable.
Another involves an intense, action-filled, tour de force sequence toward the end of the film when the camera follows the characters through the streets in the midst of battles into an apartment building being shelled from the outside by the army with freedom fighters shooting back from inside. Richmond follows the action room to room, floor to floor, in one single shot of extraordinarily complex filmmaking that captures the sheer terror of running through a war zone with bombs going off, bullets whizzing by, and the possibility of death at any moment.
The look and style of ldquo;Children of Men rdquo; is cold, gritty, stark and shadowy.
It reflects Cuaron rsquo;s brilliant eye for detail as well as his desire to join the pieces or series of shots together in a convincing, timeless, and powerful way. Production designers Jim Clay and Geoffrey Kirkland succeed in conveying the look and feel of a society that is eroding which is reflected in the desolate, impoverished communities, despoiled landscapes, and abandoned buildings (most poignant among them an empty, vandalized children rsquo;s school) that Theo encounters in his journey to the coast. 2027 Britain is a society breaking down, a collision of new modern and traditional looks stitched together by the trappings of a police state.
In some ways, it resembles a post-war landscape with a reversion to a tribal way of life where people are merely trying to survive. Yet there is not one iconic element in the film that is not from the present. Cuaron rsquo;s design team creates an expansive, reality-based world full of texture and sufficient space to allow for the action of the story.
The costume design by Jany Temime also reflects a recognizable world of the near future, yet one in disarray. Noted British composer John Tavener provides the original music including ldquo;Fragments of a Prayer. rdquo;
Cuaron is an extraordinary filmmaker with a tremendous imagination and a keen sense of how to tell a story visually.
He succeeds in bringing a sense of the visceral to a dark story which he also illuminates, in the end, with hope. ldquo;Children of Men rdquo; raises the possibility of a bleak near future filled with social chaos where infertility is synonymous with no future and humanity is facing its own extinction. But in the end, the film isn rsquo;t so much about humanity being destructive as it is about ideologies coming between people rsquo;s judgment and their actions.
This is a superbly crafted and gripping action thriller that raises some very provocative questions about dangers that may not be so very far down the road. Don rsquo;t miss it.
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