Loosely based on a P.D. James novel and already hotly tipped to feature prominently at this years Oscars, Children of Men is one of the few films I�ve made a conscientious effort to watch at the first available opportunity. All of the buzz I�d heard was good, and the dystopian plot, though unoriginal in and of itself, was sufficiently intriguing to make me think quite a lot about how they would approach the idea of an increasingly totalitarian and violent Britain only 20 years in the future.
The central idea is a good one, and forms the crux of James� novel as well. For some unknown reason humanity has become infertile and babies are a thing of the past. The youngest people alive are over 18 years old and civilization has broken down through a lack of hope in the future and a total collapse of the norms that govern society. Most countries have descended into chaos and, as the newspapers proudly exclaim, �Only Britain soldiers on�. Blessed with its island geography and a reasonable ability to provide for itself, Britain still maintains a fa�ade of normality.
Of course this is not the case. The government is a dictatorship with a strong military apparatus and complete control over the media. It spends most of its time rounding up foreigners who have fled the barbarity of the outside world and terrorizing them. While British people are reasonably safe a terrorist group seeking equality for �fugee�s (short for refugees), The Fishes, is active and blamed for a string of bombings across the country. In short, Britain is present-day Israel, mostly normal except for the occasional atrocity, doling out its impotent vengeance on those least protected by the law.
In this depressing situation we find Theodore Faron (Owen), a former activist turned government employee. After narrowingly surviving a coffee shop bombing he is kidnapped by The Fishes and confronted with their leader, an American named Julian (Julianne Moore, looking as peculiarly hot as ever), who also happens to be his ex-wife. Asked to help transport someone to the coast he accepts, for a price, and begins his perilous voyage with the most precious cargo imaginable: a miraculously pregnant girl.
Children of Men�s particular brilliance is Cuar�n�s incredible attention to detail. Unlike typical Hollywood flicks the future is not shown as a world of flying cars, immaculate streets and robots with laser guns. It�s pretty much exactly the same, except for (and this is the sad part) ever more advanced and invasive advertising. Everything is a little different, from the Tuk-Tuks on the streets of London to the increasingly worn-down and abandoned buildings. The government still seems to work, and their world is one of cleanliness and plenty. One of the most interesting scenes comes at Battersea Power Station, which has been adapted into a refuge for some of the greatest art the world has seen. The idea that Britain would do so much to save it from destruction is barely hinted upon, and left in the mind of the viewer. Such is Children of Men�s subtle genius.
Owen is excellent as the cynical hero, though I don�t believe I have ever seen a hero as weak as he. Not once does he pick up a gun or enact much violence, instead choosing to run whenever the opportunity arises. However, he lends considerable gravitas as a man faced with the greatest hope for humanity and yet opposed on all sides by people wanting him out of the way in order to use the unborn child for their own purposes. The film�s biggest twist, about a quarter of the way through, opens it up considerably and is another departure from the original novel.
Children of Men is not the finest film I�ve seen this year, though it is certainly one of the best made. Several technical advances were made in cinematography just to shoot it, and Theo�s final mad dash through a warzone ghetto rivals Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down as a scene as terrifyingly real as anyone could wish for. The adapted screenplay is clever enough to keep one�s attention and full of small asides and topical issues. The Bexhill refugee centre, with its echoes of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo is just one of many, and most of the information one needs to fill in the blanks can be found in newspaper cuttings and billboards, not character narration. If humanity was ever to face extinction through sterility I can imagine it going down exactly like this, and that�s the best compliment I can possibly give. |
