Children of Men (2006)

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Screenplay: Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby

Cast: Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Clare-Hope Ashitey

Music: John Tavener

Time: 109 minutes

Bottom-line: One of the best sci-fi films of the past decade

The last one to die… please turn out the light.

Set in a Dystopian future, Alfonso Cuarón's science fiction drama, Children of Men, is certainly a top contender for portraying the most sadistic or most violent future on Earth. The year is 2027, and for 18 years, women have been infertile on the Earth. Humanity is facing extinction, and the whole world is in chaos; the UK – one of the few stable governments – has become a police state, rounding up and detaining immigrants. The lead character, a former activist, Theo Faron (Owen), is given a job by a militant’s immigrant group (led by his estranged wife Julia (Julianne Moore)) to secure transit papers for an African woman named Kee (Ashitey). The reason? Kee is pregnant.

This is where Cuarón brings in science fiction and other theories: Kee is the first pregnant woman in 18 years, and her character was written into the movie based on Cuarón's interest in single-origin hypothesis. With the baby being the symbol of hope, Theo is desperate to take Kee safely to the “Human Project”, a scientific group dedicated to curing infertility. The problem…a group called the Fishes want the baby to support the revolution, and their leader wants to assassinate Theo. The chase that ensues as Theo, Kee and a former midwife, Miriam, along with help from Theo’s friend Jasper (Caine), struggle to evade the war/military/Fishes and several other death threats, is what the film is about.

 

(From left) Ejiofor as Luke, Ashitey as Kee, Miriam, Owen
as Theo, and Moore as Julia 

Children of Men excels in several technical aspects, as expected from a Cuarón film. The continuous takes (something I loved in Gravity too) and the shaky-cam technique add to the feel of the war zone, and the visual effects are simply astounding; a lesser known fact is that Kee’s baby is created entirely out of CGI. I liked the futuristic setting too – depressing as it may be – with grey skies, roads covered with debris, dust, blood and bodies, the explosions, the gun-fire…the film does have a lot of graphic violence: murders, executions, and a lot of bloodshed. Yet the cinematography and direction are so superbly done that there is just enough violence (not to forget the suddenness of the outbursts) to make the viewer feel the shock as well.

 

Caine as Jasper 

The story ends a little abruptly, in the sense that a lot of things are left to interpretation. The emphasis of the film was more on how desperate humans become in the future, and how utterly chaotic the world will be, and importantly, how many sacrifices are made for a better cause. The baby is like the light at the end of the tunnel, but the end is not reached in the 109 minutes; what we see is only the darkness. Cuarón and the other writers have beautifully woven a tale combining science-fiction, violence, action and a little philosophy too. In the end, you might not take away an adrenaline-pumping thriller story, but you will have a lot to ponder about.

This is the first film of Clive Owen that I have seen and I was impressed. He takes on the role of a leader, fighting all odds, losing his friends, all for the greater good. Michael Caine and Ashitey have done a really good job too. Children of Men is certainly one of Cuarón's best, and with its thought-provoking story, amazing CGI and editing, it is one of the best films of 2006 (the same year we saw The Departed, Blood Diamond, Little Miss Sunshine, The Lives of Others, Pan's Labyrinth,  to name a few).

My Rating: 4/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%