Children of Men

Posted by Loukas Tsouknidas (loukas@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 20, 2006

One thing we know for certain is the apocalypse is close. Paris Hilton is an actress. How’s that for a sign? What we don’t know is in what form the end will strike upon us. Alfonso Cuar³n read an interesting theory in a novel which he translated to an even better movie. Sci-fi has never been more close to the present than in the Mexican-born director’s latest, Children of Men.

n a very near future, Britain is one of the last places where someone can survive even under a strict police state with zero tolerance for immigrants. 18 years ago, the last human baby was born and since then, a serious case of infertility plagues the whole planet. Theo is a constantly broke public servant, an ex-activist who hasn’t believed in anything for a long time. Having survived a large explosion he runs into his former girlfriend who is still politically active. She then offers him money to handle the papers and delivery of a young immigrant girl. When he accepts he signs up for a life risking adventure…

Children of Men is in a sense the same old story of the guy who gets stuck with a responsibility he never asked for. When the romantic revolutionaries sign checks their skills can’t cover and the retired intellectuals have lost contact with the real world, who’s gonna save the day? The cynic will of course but only out of basic sense of responsibility.

The hero feels familiar and so does the scenery. Cuar³n’s landscapes are exactly what the ones we live in today would look like in a similar situation. Clive Owen’s Theo is an everyday man who passed through some phases in his life with the sole remaining purpose being his survival. That’s why he’s the best man for the job. His ex knows it and the girl quickly senses it, gradually approving him as her guardian angel.

Political or ecological questions can be tracked through the whole movie but the director never deals with them directly. They are already too clich© to be spelled out. Besides there is a lot of action to be filmed which Cuar³n delivers with extreme craftsmanship and great camera work. The usual sci-fi exaggerations are well missing and the performances are great.

Clive Owen still flirts with being given the same role over and over again but he looks to match the exact character here. Michael Caine gives another brilliant performance as the long retired editorial cartoonist who lives as a hermit growing his own “grass” and Peter Mullan looks great as the corrupt cop who buys it.

At last humanity loses something that could never be lost. That is indeed serious enough to call for a hero. How funny that the hero’s name means “God”.

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