Our dystopian present?

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2007)

Birth rates have dropped dramatically, terrorism is a constant phenomenon, the government's increasingly totalitarian, immigration laws are non-existent and urban warfare presents itself on a daily basis. I'm not commenting on contemporary issues, I'm discussing the futuristic drama Children of Men, a film that threw all of these topics at my face and forced me to reexamine the world of today.
I can't mention this movie without relating director Alphonso Cuaron's technical prowess of the cinematic medium. Children of Men is full of brilliant single tracking shots that left me sometimes dumbfounded as to how it was accomplished. One impressive scene in particular involved a reverse car chase involving two motorcyclists shooting at a car's occupants. The camera stays in the interior of the car at all times, not cutting away, from the casual conversation to the incident of attack to the scene's end. There are at least two other scenes similar to the one I've described.
The acting is consistently good all around. Julianne Moore, Michael Cane and the rest of the supporting cast put in believable portrayals in no small part to Cuaron's excellent direction. Special credit must go to Clive Owen, the star of the film. This movie would have sunk if his performance was less than adequate. Owen manages to burden this responsibility and is able to carry the film to its bittersweet conclusion.
One of the best movies of the year, Children of Men is an excellent metaphor about humanity's possible slow strangulation of itself.