Too many obvious symbols and images ruin the perfect filming technique

Rating: 5/10 (3 October 2010)

I watched this movie expecting so so much more from it. I read and heard a lot of praise, and it was a bit of a let down...
Good things: - filming technique: brilliant, especially that legendary fight sequence in the ruins of the refugee camp. Absolutely brilliant! - Michael Caine as the old hippie. He steals the show in every scene. - the description of a possible future of this world, very realistic, bleak and filled with violence. - Theo is a modern hero, never touching a gun - Theo's cousin who is creating an Ark of all the great works of art of this world. A dying race, but with something beautiful to leave behind as a legacy to the unknown. Beautiful!
unfortunately the movie is so crammed with symbols that you have the impression the writer and director made a bet to see how many they can put in without people complaining. And some of the good stuff I evoked earlier become also negative points: - Kee is black (political correctness!), she's the modern Eve/Saint Mary, bringing to this world the first child/Saviour. - Theo is Joseph and the good Samaritan, never touching a weapon, even if he's in mortal danger.He lost hope/faith when Dylan died, and finds it again through this baby, to the point of giving his life for it. - the child is in danger (a lot like with Jesus and Herod) and is born in very poor conditions among refugees (Jesus symbol again!) - refugees camp: Nazi camps, Irak war, immigrant camps etc, you have your pick of examples of human oppression and cruelty towards your fellow men - Michael Cane as the old hippie...how many billion of times has that been done now? - the Fishes and the government act the same, terrorists and state police are alike - some type of disease/virus/catastrophe hits humanity with various effects: zombies, blindness, sterility, hunger/cannibalism. Humanity is a dying race, violence is everywhere.
All these symbols and ideas have all been done too many times in too many movies. There are just too many (obvious) messages the movie wants to deliver, from "immigrants are people" to "terrorists and governments employ the same methods". Maybe it's wrong of me to judge a film 4 years after it was made...but on the other hand, the review I deliver reflects perhaps also how a spectator DOES feel watching the movie 4 years after it was made.
It could have been so much better, but I guess for 2006 this was the hype at Hollywood.