Title: Children of Men Director: Alfonso Cuaron Distributor: Universal Pictures Release Date(s): December 25th, 2006 (Theatrical) Score: 9.5 (Out of 10)

CHILDREN OF MEN

C HILDREN OF MEN isn’t really a horror movie, though it does fit in to the “dark” category. So dark, in fact, that in the apocalyptic future that it portrays, there is no hint of sunshine on the horizon, and no light at the end of the tunnel. It shows us humanity approaching its final days, and what happens to a world without the sound of children’s laughter. And if that isn’t a pretty good description of horror, I don’t know what is.

A weary-looking man enters a crowded shop and pushes his way slowly to the front of the distracted crowd and orders a coffee. No one seems to notice, as they are all watching the television at the front of the shop. Some of them are crying. The newscaster says that Baby Diego, the world’s youngest person, has just been killed by an insane fan for refusing to sign an autograph. “Baby” Diego, the world’s youngest person, was about 18-and-a- half years old when he died. The weary looking man takes his coffee from the distracted clerk, pushes his way back through the crowd, and leaves. Outside he pauses just down the road from the coffee shop to add a little whiskey to his coffee; no one passing by in the filthy, crumbling streets even seems to notice. Suddenly a devastating explosion rips out the front to the shop that the man had just been standing for, sending him scrambling for cover. He has avoided death by only about 20 seconds. As the smoke clears, we see a lone woman stumble out of the wreckage of the café, holding her severed right arm in her left hand. Then the screen goes black, and the words “CHILDREN OF MEN” appears.

As you can see, right from the beginning this film doesn’t flinch from showing us it’s version of our world’s hellish future. Like BLADE RUNNER and 1984 before it, CHILDREN uses a bleak, dystopian future to cast a critical eye on today’s cultural problems, by using science fiction to magnify the world’s woes into a bleak, apocalyptic quagmire. The film takes place in the year 2027, and it has been more then 18 years since the last human child has been born. Sometime in 2009, a pandemic of miscarriages all over the world tipped the world off that something had gone horribly, irrevocably wrong. Soon after, it was confirmed; suddenly no more live children were being born. After that, no one could even conceive. As is probably best, this global infertility is never explained. As is the case in many good horror stories, such as George Romero’s zombie films, the point is not “why”, but rather “what are we going to do about it”.

And in this case, we crumbled. Realizing that no children meant no future, most of the world devolved into mindless violence and debasement, as people with no hope for the future descended into a hedonistic fury, turning on one another. Most countries, including the United States, crumbled under a wave of looting and mindless slaughter. The only culture that seemed to be above all that was England. However, they handled the problem by brutally controlling the violence, closing down the borders, and throwing out all people who had been born outside of the U.K. Now they are the last bastion of civilization in an insane, hopeless world, but at what price? Britain turned itself into a military controlled police state, bent on keeping order to the very last, and losing the battle. Any refugees who manage to survive the savage wilderness outside and finally make it to the last civilized country get hunted down, rounded up, and put into concentration camps pending their deportation. On the one hand, the government demands government sponsored yearly fertility tests in the hopes that an answer to infertility might yet be found. On the other, they issue citizens home suicide kits called “Quietus”: the concept is that since the human race is quickly going to die off, that the individual citizen can decide when they are going to go. In actuality it seems to be the government’s way of keeping the numbers of their citizens at an ever-dwindling controllable low, since food and other resources that they once got from the outside of their island nation have suddenly become unavailable. A rebel faction, calling themselves “The Fishes”, because they swim against the current, have turned to terrorism in the streets in an attempt to take control back from the totalitarian government and gain rights for the “fugees”, or refugees. Other, more violent terrorist groups have sprouted up all over, as we saw when the coffee shop exploded at the beginning of the film. In short, things suck, and with no hope for the future they are unlikely to get any better.

Our main character is this light-hearted little farce is Theo (played by Clive Owen), who, once upon a time in the dark age of the first few years of the Twenty-First Century (in other words, now) was an activist fighting against an increasingly corrupt and controlling government. However, after a devastating personal loss just before the global sterility started, Theo abandoned all of his beliefs and fled from life, realizing that there was really no hope; no hope for love, for his dead son, or for the world. Now, twenty years later, in a world equally without hope or ideals, Theo is an embittered, broken alcoholic living a life of quiet desperation as exactly the kind of complacent bureaucrat that he once fought against. But then one day he is kidnapped on his way home from work by a cell of anti-government rebels in need of transit papers that they believe only he can get for them. Their choosing Theo for their target was far from coincidental, as their leader is the one woman that he would never be able to forget, and could hardly say no to: Julian (played by the astounding Julianne Moore), the one love of his life and the mother of his long dead son. You see while Theo lost all hope when his son died and he realized they would never have another child even if they wanted to, Julian threw her entire existence into the fight against oppression of the individual. Theo abandoned his beliefs and ideals, while Julian, with nothing else to live for, embodied them.

Julian and her group came to Theo because despite their past, and all of their disappointments, Julian trusts him implicitly, knows he would never turn her in, and still believes that the man he once was is buried somewhere deep inside the broken shell he has become. And, when push comes to shove, she also knows that he is dead broke due to a combination of his drinking and his gambling habit, and offers him a good sum of money. Whether it is for Julian, for his beliefs, or for the money, in the end he decides to get the transit papers for her. But when he does, he hits a small snag; the only papers he can get his hands on are joint transit papers, and his name is on one of them. This means that he has to be one of the two people traveling across the country, and tells them it will cost more. Having no choice, the rebels agree, albeit reluctantly. While Theo assumed that the papers had to be for Julian, he soon finds himself in the company of a young fugee woman named Kee (played by talented newcomer Clare-Hope Ashitey).

As you might expect, things soon go horribly wrong, and Theo and Kee find themselves on the run not only from a renegade group of rebels (Renegade rebels? Is that like a double negative, making renegade rebels actually conformists? Actually, they are a violent splinter faction from within Julian’s group… but I digress), but also the government, the police, and just about everyone else. And why is this? Because it turns out that Kee is pregnant, and in her third trimester. Julian wanted to get her to a secret society of nearly mythical rebel scientists, geneticists, and other assorted geniuses called “The Human Project”, who have secretly gathered together outside of government controls to try to use their collective brilliance to find a way to solve the world’s woes while avoiding the selfish oversight of the fascist government. Julian hopes that The Human Project will be able to figure out what make’s Kee so special and use that information to save humanity as a whole. Why wouldn’t they bring her to the government themselves, I hear you ask? Because the government is so single-minded in their focus on saving Britain that they would most likely dissect and destroy both Kee and her baby in their attempts to figure out what makes her special; she is after all a refugee, and not a British citizen, which makes her dispensable in the face of saving Britain, the rest of the world be damned. The rebel splinter faction wants Kee’s baby to use as a flag or a rallying point to show the people that the government’s approach has been wrong, and that the miraculous refugee’s baby will be the symbol that they are in the right, and the people will rise up behind them with the baby as their symbol.

Theo, for his part, is determined to follow through with Julian’s wishes, and decides to help bring Kee to The Human Project, who may or may not really exist. If they DO exist, then he has to meet them at one of two rendezvous points within a few day’s time, where they will whisk Kee away to their hidden medical facilities and do their thing. But with so many people willing to kill him to get to the girl, why does this broken ex-activist still put himself in harm’s way? Because in Kee he finds the hope that abandoned him twenty years before, and finally finds a purpose for his miserable existence; he will get Kee to The Human Project, through war, terrorism, human depredations, and several rival armies, or he will die trying.

In Theo, Clive Owens (SIN CITY, INSIDE MAN) has once again found the role that he does best; the reluctant, ordinary man thrust into greatness by extraordinary circumstances. His broken demeanor is apparent in every hangdog look, every half-hearted gesture, and every bleak joke; here is a man going through the motions. So when he finally comes into his own, he seems to be surprising even himself with the power of his convictions and his willingness to once again give everything for a cause. Julianne Moore (HANIBAL, THE FORGOTTEN) gives quite a bit of fiery determination to the character of Julian, but is in the movie far less than the trailers suggest, which is a damn shame. Of course I would happily watch a two-hour movie of Julianne Moore reading celebrities’ shopping lists because I enjoy her screen presence so much, so perhaps I am biased. CHILDREN’s real female lead is Clare-Hope Ashitey (SHOOTING DOGS) as the dystopian Madonna, Kee. Ashitey gives real humanity and warmth to the character, playing a young woman who once was a broken, world-weary refugee with no hope and no prospects, now thrust to the forefront as the one ray of hope for the world. She plays Kee as shy and sardonic, cynical and yet child-like in her faith in Julian, and by extension, Theo. She also has a wonderfully wry sense of humor, at one point telling Theo with a straight face that she is, in fact, a virgin… and then cracking up at his shocked-looking reaction to this.

But while the main characters were amazing, the real show stealers came from the diverse crew of secondary characters. Michael Caine (THE PRESTIGE, CHILDREN OF MEN) was simply brilliant as Jasper, an ex-political cartoonist who retired to the wilderness in the face of the fascist government’s suddenly violent lack of a sense of humor. Now he grows designer marijuana that he sells to government officials (it is still illegal, even in the face of global extinction), and takes care of his wife, who is now permanently catatonic after being tortured by the government due to some sensitive articles that she wrote about the government’s corrupt policies. Despite this tragedy Jasper is a lively, jovial imp who constantly calls Theo “amigo” just like Mort Mills did to Charlton Heston in the film noir classic TOUCH OF EVIL. He also listens to horribly discordant “Zen” music as well as “classics” such as Radiohead and The Beatles (or at least covers of The Beatles). He is also quite fond of the “pull my finger” joke. Caine is obviously having a blast, and taking us along with him. Similarly amusing is Peter Mullan (SESSION 9) as Syd, though with a much more mean spirited and darker slant. I won’t go into details as his character involves a major plot point halfway through the movie, but he is able to go from darkly jovial to terrifying in a heartbeat. Another great supporting character is Luke, played by one of my favorite supporting character actors, Chiwetel Ejiofor (DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, SERENITY). As was the case with The Operative, his character in SERENITY, Luke is a conflicted villain, a man who is doing things that are evil and wrong, but only because he believes in something greater than himself. Though not much time is spent on his character’s moral quandaries, towards the end of the movie it becomes apparent that he is a basically good man doing wrong in hopes of creating a better world. I just wish there was a little more of him in the movie. Nearly without exception, even the minor characters add quite a bit to the overall piece, or at least don’t distract from it. Pam Ferris (HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, DEATH TO SMOOCHY) plays Miriam, Kee’s midwife companion who seems to be there simply to give a bit of plot exposition about halfway through the film and then exit stage left in a heroic sacrifice. More notable is Oana Pellea (from a bunch of foreign movies that none of us have ever seen) as Marichka, a character who you end up loving even though neither Theo and Kee nor the audience can understand a single thing she is saying. And because I can’t think of any other place to mention this, there are a lot of border collies in the film. Being dogs, I can’t say much about their acting, but it is good to know that even if society crumbles there will be border collies everywhere, wandering the streets and taking herding flocks of rebel sheep. But that is neither hear nor there.

Even with such a great cast, they would be nothing without a good director at the helm, and they have a great one in Alfonso Cuaron (GREAT EXPECTATIONS, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN). While I can’t say much about past films, having only seen two in which he was hampered by other forces (GREAT EXPECTATIONS was… well, great, but didn’t lend itself to visual creativity, while HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, even though it was may favorite of the series so far, at least visually, still had to stay more or less to the vision set forward by Chris Columbus in the first few movies), he does so much right here that I am definitely adding him to my list of directors to watch out for. His visual palette was less than original, using the same grays and muted greens of every bleak apocalyptic vision of the future since the days of BLADE RUNNER. Rather it was the WAY that everything was shot, making extensive use of hand-held steady cams to give the film the feeling of a war documentary. This means that when the inevitable action happens, you feel like you are right there in the thick of things, as if you are the invisible cameraman following Theo through the nightmare that England has become. In many ways it is similar to Danny Boyle’s 28 DAYS LATER, which used a similar technique to create his vision of a fallen London. But when hell comes down and things start exploding, the gritty, no-holds-barred camera work makes it feel more like a visceral real-world wartime film like BLACKHAWK DOWN and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN than anything out of sci-fi or horror. Cuaron chose veteran Emmanuel Lubezki (HEARTS IN ATLANTIS, THE NEW WORLD) as his cinematographer having worked with him on Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, and it was obviously the perfect combination. In fact, if Lubezki isn’t at least nominated for an Oscar for this film then it is time for them to give up the charade (actually, they proved that when Daniel Day Lewis didn’t get the Oscar for GANGS OF NEW YORK, and compounded it when Ken Watanabe missed his chance for THE LAST SAMURAI… but I digress again). His camera work in CHILDREN feels so real and so visceral that at times it is hard to remember that this isn’t a documentary. Between his outstanding work and Cuaron’s superlative direction, this film is nothing short of a visual masterpiece. Furthermore, Cuaron makes some smart decisions when he decides where the camera is going to stay focused: in all but two very short but absolutely necessary scene, the camera stays right with Theo. This not only helps us to feel almost symbiotically attached to the character, seeing everything that he sees and feeling everything that he feels. Almost imperceptibly, at the film’s outset the camera keeps a little distant from Theo, though always making him the focus of every scene. As this progress and Theo grows as a character, the camera draws ever closer the Theo, building our connection to him as viewers, until by the end of the film the camera is almost from his point of view, and we ARE him. As I said, it is a subtle effect that sweeps you into the narrative as the story progresses. By keeping our point of view on Theo, not only does it help us sympathize with him, but also keeps the focus from getting too cluttered with too many windows into this strangely familiar world.

If I have one complaint with the movie it is in the choice to never have Theo wield a gun, despite several of them dropping almost literally at his feet. While I understand that the director didn’t want this to be a Bruce Willis-like action vehicle, or devolve into a chase and shoot, a balance definitely could have been struck. It isn’t even that Theo is a pacifist or anything like that; at one point he brutally bashes in a gun-wielding pursuers head with a large rock. But he wouldn’t have had to do so if two minutes before he hadn’t knocked down that same character, causing him to drop the gun, then run away, leaving the still loaded pistol at his fallen assailant’s feet. Not long after this he passes by the assault rifles of several fallen soldiers, while being pursued by more gun-wielding folk hell-bent on killing him, and doesn’t so much as give them a second glance. While I’m not saying that he should have picked up some machineguns and jumped in with both barrels blazing, just that it would have made sense in a few places for him to shoot back and try to stop his pursuers when so much was on the line. But this is a small quibble.

In the end, the movie is something much greater than the sum of its parts, which is saying a lot since each of the parts were so good. With no less than five script writers, this is a surprise (of which Cuaron is one), since in the case of film too many chefs often spoil the soup. And while it is very loosely based off of a book of the same name by British mystery writer P.D. James, the movie takes the basic characters and plot points and spins off in it's own direction, which is also usually a recipe for disaster. Despite this,it manages to be exciting without being over-the-top, gritty without being graphic, and tell a modern allegory without being preachy. While there are definitely some messianic overtones laced throughout the film, such as when he finds out about Kee’s pregnancy while in a high-tech barn, or during one pivotal scene concerning soldiers near the film’s end (or, for that matter, the fact that the movie was very subtly released on December 25th), this is a messiah for a new age, a miracle child that brings out the last of humanity in a world gone mad. And most amazing of all, it manages to hide some real levity and human emotion in a movie that’s tone is predominantly bleak by necessity, while all the while making it feel natural (there is a great running gag about what the baby will be named; suggestions included “Frolli” for a boy and “Bazooka” for a girl… pure genious). This is a dark allegory for our troubled times, but with suggestions of hope on the horizon, showing us humanity at its worst, but also at it’s best and most beautiful. While this movie probably isn’t for everyone (which is great, since the majority of “everyone” are a bunch of idiots), anyone longing for a bleakly gorgeous story about hope at the end of everything should go out and see this movie immediately.