A once in a lifetime experience...

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2007)

This was a movie I had high hopes for. When I watched the trailer in the summer of 06, I immediately bought the book for some sort of means of comparison. The book is good (despite it's obviously religious undertones) so the hype of the movie increased the suspense. Come January 07 I went to the theater with my family and witnessed the best film of the year, and one of the most memorable of the decade.
Similar in size and spectacle to 28 Days Later, Children of Men is an apocalyptic thriller seeking a higher understanding of themes such as hope and love. Alfonso Cauron's direction is immaculate, handling live ammunition, many extras, gargantuan set pieces, and long takes with pitch-perfect sight. A scene shot entirely in a car with one long camera take stands out, as does a shoot-out near the end. The cinematography adds an underlying texture of depression and madness to these magnificent wonders, ad a digital baby looks all too real coming straight from the womb. While it may be the photography of the movie that make it bonds, it's the characters that strengthen it.
Clive Owen, an actor almost unknown to me until now, gives us a powerful, heart wrenching performance as Theo Faron. He is almost numb to the things around him, struggling with his estranged ex-wife's (Julian Moore) plan to sneak someone out of the mass immigration target Britain has become. His surprising re-encounter with her essentially brings him nothing but trouble. Her name is Julian, and her role, although short, is lovable. Then there is Michael Cain, who plays the retired political cartoonist Jasper. He is Theo's only source of friendship and company. But purposely, Theo keeps their relationship distanced. Jasper asks Theo why he won't come move in with him, and Theo replies, "Because then what would I have to look forward to?" The smaller roles in the film are powerful and moving as well. There is Kee, the last pregnant woman on Earth, Miriam, a gentle lady who was a mid-wife before babies stopped being born, Luke, the activist who wants the baby solely for political purposes, Syd, a corrupt cop who sneaks Theo into a neo-concentration camp, and Marichka, an immigrant in the camp Bexhill who sacrifices everything to help Theo.
If these aspects of the film aren't dazzling enough, listen closely to the beautiful score composed of John Tavner's Fragments of a Prayer, which breaks your heart every time...like many of the scenes. A docile deer, not startled by the sight of man, running in front of Theo, might shake you. As will the sight of men carrying explosives across a roof right before a battle scene. There are too many of these occurrences to name quite frankly. A cafe exploding as Theo spikes his coffee. An elderly woman holding her dead son in her arms, referencing Michael Angelo's "Pity" The camera forcing us to look at two dead police in the road, a door being shot through while Theo attempts to squeeze through it, and of course, Kee and Theo pacifying hundreds of soldiers while they walk with a crying baby between them.
Movies with this kind of emotional core don't come out often.