A speculative fiction masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2007)

It appears that speculative fiction, the brainy offshoot of science-fiction, has come to vogue in recent years. Intelligent "what-if" movies have become more frequent than ever and Children of Men stands as being amongst the best of the best. Alfonso Cuarón leaves no stone unturned and has created as vivid a vision of a dreary, decayed future as Ridley Scott's Blade Runner painted a technologically advanced future.
The story of a world where all women have become infertile and civilization had decayed in the ensuing desperation is harsh enough, but Cuarón's and co-screenwriter Timothy Sexton's vision of this decayed world is so convincing that it becomes difficult to remember that it is simply a movie. Every single detail is filled in, from the stalling of technology in the face of a race coming to its extinction, to celebrity worship in a world where everyone is defined by the same dream, to the sights and sounds of a world where schools are empty and the religious feel that God has abandoned them. This film is crafted under a microscope that forgets nothing.
It is most interesting to watch the well-presented attitudes of the lower class who have nothing left to lose compared to the upper class who suddenly find their wealth to be meaningless and yet realize that their continued quest for material wealth is now merely an auto-response. What is most impressive is that the film does not fall into cliché or prejudice about any group. The rich are not painted as evil and the poor are not painted as saintly; the government is not painted as completely evil and rebels are not painted as being completely faultless. In this film, the good and bad of all groups is put front and center.
The view of the government is equal measures modern, Western civilization and Cold-War, Communist Germany. Showing the addiction to illusory security that many countries today are clamoring over and the attempts to quantify and control all aspects of living for the equally illusory socialist dream, this film really pulls no punches. As well, by showing how even civil rebellion can decay into corruption and that the government/army is made up of human beings who respond similarly to the same set of human circumstances, this film certainly succeeds in what all good science-fiction/speculative fiction should do: make us think of who we are and what are relationship is to the world around us.
Alfonso Cuarón has crafted what is a crowning achievement in his career with this film. It stands out amongst all the films that I have seen this year and is a must-see for those who crave intelligent, honest and blunt storytelling with visuals that do not leave your mind long after the film has finished.