Full Review: Children of Men

I rarely write full-length reviews, but here is one. Enjoy (or conversely, be confused by my poor writing)

What is it exactly about the apocalypse that I find so fascinating? I seem to always find myself respecting films that for whatever reason decide to end humanity. Maybe it’s because it’s the ultimate definitive, or maybe it’s because we actually kinda had it coming. No more life equals no more me. No more you. No more anything. And so when a big budget Hollywood(-esque?) movie comes along and basically ends the world that we know, I sort of have to give it up to the filmmakers for actually doing so. Take Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines for example. That very-Hollywood-friendly movie ended with the human race succumbing to the robots. We (humans) were left to fend for scraps in a metal world (of course, the inexplicably upcoming Terminator 4 is sure to provide a much happier snappier ending to the franchise, no doubt).

There was a definitive sense of the apocalypse during Alfonso Cuarón’s latest movie Children of Men. Essentially, the human race is going to die out and there’s nothing we can do about it. When a character asks “Why are women infertile”, you kind of want to know, but at the same time, as Clive Owen’s Theo says, there’s no point in knowing, because at this point everyone’s going to die. Why fuss with the details? The film builds this world so thoroughly that, even at the early stages of the film, you just accept it. It’s not like it’s hard to believe that the entire planet could turn to the crapper, considering how things are going.

All of this hopelessness is a build up for what Children of Men really stands for. The desire for hope. One scene in particular towards the end actually had me welling up. A moment played for all it’s worth (it even has an opera soundtrack) that actually works. For people who haven’t read the book (I assume the book is similar? But I wouldn’t know), I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s one of the most stirring bits of cinema I’ve seen in quite a while. But, Children of Men is realistic and it doesn’t have any false moments. It just keep building and building until for just a brief moment in time goodness shines through, but in the end goodness isn’t enough. And that just kind of makes it hit home all the more. War is hell, and unlike this movie, there isn’t even a terribly worthwhile reason for it.

The cast and crew of Men work incredibly hard to make you believe. Clive Owen is typically sullen and depressed as you would be from 21 years of end-of-the-world senarios, and Michael Caine is bright as his much-less pessimistic friend. Newcomer Claire-Hope Ashitey completely won me over as she runs the gamut from sassy to serious. She is definitely someone to watch in the future. And Julianne Moore? …I can't discuss that.

Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and editor Alex Rodriguez really work hand in hand better than most films of this type. Lubezki’s camera is ever roaming and the editing is not flashy, but plain old simple. You barely even notice it at times. The production design and art direction is suitably effective. It’s grimy, yet ever so slightly futuristic – the movie is only set 21 years in the future.

Yes, the film has modern-day connections (and they’re easily picked with all the news we constantly hear about the Iraq war and shit like that), and it’s as if the film is going out of it’s to make viewers demand not only a better future, but also a better present. Children of Men is strong, effective filmmaking and if you substitute the science-fiction infertility angle for something much more prevalent in today’s society, then it just gets scarier and more powerful. A-