Brilliant. Thought-provoking and quite often frightening

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2008)

2006 was a year that had the type of coincidence that happens only in Hollywood. That of films all converging on the same theme. In this case, future dystopia's set in Britain. First up was the excellent V For Vendetta, and then later in the year, the even better Children of Men, one of the most daring, gutsy and conceptually dazzling films to grace our shores in quite some time.
Based on the novel by P.D. James, COM presents us with the Britain of 2027. A place where the people live under a police state, illegal immigrants are detained and executed, and most importantly, we live in a world without children.
The human race has become infertile. A baby hasn't been born in 18 years, and the youngest person on the planet (18) has died in a senseless killing. Theo Faron (the superb Clive Owen), a former activist turned bureaucrat has become resigned to the fact there's no future for the human race. But that all changes when his ex-wife Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore), still in with the radicals enlists his help.
Something wonderful has happened. Kee, an African illegal immigrant, is pregnant. She could give birth any day now. So its imperative Kee gets transit papers out of London as soon as possible, where she can have her baby at The Human Project, a safe haven for her and her child. But when Julian is killed en route, its on Theo's weary shoulders to get Kee to safety. That means fighting off ambitious radicals, sadistic police and fanatical fugitives at every turn to protect the mother of the future.
Children of Men is a completely mind-blowing experience. And I thought V For Vendetta was impressive. COM is an even greater film. Director Alfonso Cuaron has created a truly stunning work. One of the very best of 2006.
What impressed me is the way it doesn't lecture on anything. It transports us into this bleak depiction of the future without battering us over the head with long-winded exposition. Cuaron just lets the background do all the talking.
Cuaron's camera is almost always on the move. Details are packed around the edges of every frame. The opening scene in particular does a great job showing us the London of 2027. The sight of TV screens along the sides of Double Decker buses are bound to make you sit up and pay attention. Or advertisements proclaiming a crumbling society, but Britain continues to soldier on. They're presented in the most nonchalant and offhand of ways you're grateful to Cuaron for using such subtlety.
COM is a film with an often startling and dangerous edge. Cuaron shoots scenes with such intensity they really become quite unnerving. Even unbearable. The opening scene of an exploding café Clive Owen just walked out of packs quite a jolt. And some scenes are unbelievably scary. Like when radicals push a burning car into the path of Theo's. Its nail-biting stuff. Filled with frenzied camera angles. But most importantly, it feels naturalistic. And spontaneous. Its the feeling that anything could happen. Its all very frightening.
Cuaron milks the film for all the suspense he can squeeze out of it. Theo getting Kee to safety in a jump-started car while being pursued by radicals is pretty intense. But the crowning setpiece is the final 25 minutes. Theo and Kee are trapped in a refugee camp that erupts into a war zone. The radicals are trying to get in. The police are trying to keep them out. A situation made even worse when Kee goes into labour, so Theo has to deliver the baby, while at the same time keeping them alive long enough to do that.
Its an engrossing, brilliantly sustained sequence. Cuaron makes use of unbroken long takes that he utilises to dazzling effect. Theo and Kee run with her baby while bullets are flying everywhere and things are exploding all around them. Credit is due to Clive Owen for being willing to put himself in such mortal danger. Because when you see him, that's no stunt-double or stand-in. The camera never lets him out of its sight.
Cuaron has assembled an exceedingly fine cast. The excellent and very underrated Clive Owen turns in what may be his finest performance yet. A tired and weary man who glances at the world's misfortunes, but finds his fighting spirit rekindled by Julian and Kee. Newcomer Claire-Hope Ashitey gives a performance that impresses by the way it rotates from bewilderment, horror and tough resolve at the things happening to her. You really feel hope for the future when you see her. That if she dies, the future will die with her. Pam Ferris offers fine support as Kee's midwife Miriam. Michael Caine is highly amusing as Jasper, a hippie editorial cartoonist who's the closest thing to a friend Theo has left in this sorry world.
The also underrated Chiwetel Ejiofor is great as Luke, one of Julian's activist friends. Its a beautifully nuanced performance. A surprising blend of self-serving ambition and thought for the future. Finally, Julianne Moore impresses in the brief but effective role of Julian. Although killed off disappointingly early into the film, she leaves a lasting impression on the rest of it. She had a son with Theo that died, giving him the incentive he needs to ensure that Kee's baby will live. She provides the dynamic that sets the film in motion.
Children of Men is a wonderful film. It contains many haunting images, none more so when troops, soldiers and innocents see Kee's baby, the first they've seen in 18 years, and fall to they're knees in astonishment. Brilliant! Also great for the way it uses what's happening in 2027 as an opportunity to comment upon the politics in contemporary society. Not just one of the greatest films of 2006, but one of the greatest films in a decade.