Despairing hope (spoilers?)

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2007)

Alfonso Cuaron hammers out a totally believable distopian vision based upon P.D. James' novel, "Children of Men". A film about a future in which the human race is on the verge of extinction due to the sudden and inexplicable infertility of all women, where the last surviving shred of civilization is the police state of England where euthanasia is advertised on television, illegal immigrants are hunted down like animals and 'deported' (many never get that far), and Clive Owen is the only hope the first pregnant mother in over 18 years.
Clive's character, Theo, drifts through his character development sequence as a lazy and stoic antihero. Our story begins on the day that the youngest man alive dies, killed by an angry mob after refusing an autograph request. Theo hears the news in a café that explodes shortly upon his leaving it. He then heads to work as if it never happened, only to discover that, as evidenced by the weeping ladies in the cubicles surrounding him, "Baby Diego's" death is so traumatic for the women of London that he'll be unable to get any work done. He takes the day off and calls his old friend Jasper played by the illustrious Michael Caine, who lives hidden just off the highway and is our comic relief.
Upon returning to London he is kidnapped by his wanted ex-wife (Julianne Moore) , who asks for his help in procuring traveling documents from his rich cousin. After some establishing events that I won't bring into focus, as you'll enjoy the surprises, Theo becomes the sole protector for Kee, played by the lovely Claire-Hope Ashitey (who I sincerely hope we'll be seeing more of). Kee is the aforementioned mother. His mission: escort key to the coast, where she'll be delivered into the hands of 'The Human Project', an enigmatic group trying to save humanity whose existence is only rumored, via their ship, the aptly named 'Tomorrow'. Theo sheds his antihero status at this point and we see the uncompromising 'activist' he used to be. Given this purpose, he understands that this mission is more important than anything he's ever done, and subsequently takes us on a journey through the film, showing us concentration camps, bleak countrysides, and senseless human conflict, featuring an edge-of-your-seat urban combat sequence that rivals the beach landing in 'Saving Private Ryan'.
But here's the thing. None of that is what this film is about.
The infertility problem is never explained, and Kee's story ends as abruptly as the film began because they are simply the plot device that allows Cuaron to take us on a trip through this apocalyptic world. They are just plain unimportant. Make no mistake, 'Children of Men' is not about hope. And if you think it is, you're quite the optimist. The tag-line says it all: "No children. No future. No hope." No joke.
In the end, 'C.O.M.' is a despairing look at what a wretched species the human race is, so wrapped up in our politics and religious differences that nothing distracts us (for more than 90 seconds) from the wholesale destruction of ourselves. The fact that this future world is so believable shows this to be true. Cuaron seems to be saying, "We aren't headed here for sure, but it's a possibility, isn't it?". It forms parallels to current events without hammering any specific political ideology home, just the horror of what we're doing to ourselves and where we could be headed as Earthlings. The closest thing to hope that we are offered is that this cycle will, indeed, continue.