Children of Men, Subtitile: Why Bother

Rating: 3/10 (17 April 2007)

I am a major "Blade Runner" fan and I heard this movie advertised as "Blade Runner for the 21st Century." Unfortunately it wasn't even close and it wasn't sci-fi. This movie takes place only 20 years in the future and is clearly tied to our present. For some unknown reason, society has fallen apart throughout the entire world. Apparently wars are going on and there was an epidemic (bird flu?) in 2007 and people are generally vicious and uncaring about what goes on around them. The only plot you can glean from the movie is that for some reason (maybe the epidemic) women can't get pregnant so everyone goes crazy and attacks each other, and people from all over the world want to sneak into England (illegal aliens). The illegals are treated harshly in England, by being rounded up and put into tiny cages before being transported to a walled up (part of) old city (i.e., the Nazis in Poland, or Escape from New York).
Then "hero" of the story, Theo (played by Clive Owen - big fan) surprisingly appears to be living a fairly normal life (going to work, coming home every day, trying to pay his bills) in the midst of this chaos. Suddenly, he finds himself asked to do a favor for a radical political group called the Fishes, lead by is ex-wife. He and his ex were members of the Fishes in their youth. He left, she stayed and the Fishes committed some terrorist acts (after Theo left), but his ex assures him that, that isn't what they do anymore. She asks him to get travel papers for a young woman without giving him much info, he says no initially but decides he needs the money she offered. Do you think he'll get the papers when pigs fly? Look what's floating in the background when he arrives to ask for the papers, a flying (well actually floating) pig. It was so distracting in the scene that I could only look at that giant ping and wonder, "does the director think the audience so dumb they won't get the symbolism unless he slaps them in the face with it." Anyway the savior of mankind is a baby being carried by the young women that, unfortunately for Theo, he only finds about the baby after he is under the control of the Fishes. Shortly afterward he finds out the Fishes staged a coup by killing his ex, and they will kill him in the morning and keep the baby (did I say savior of mankind) for themselves. For some reason the radicals believe the baby will incite an uprising against the current government, and I assume they will need to rule until the Savior, uh I mean baby is old enough. Unfortunately for Theo (and Clive) his heroism never comes out, by the time he finds out what is going on, he is already stuck, with escape his only way out. He seems to hang on to the girl and baby more as a security blanket then any attempt to rescue them. Near the end of the movie when there is everything from handguns to tanks firing all around him and the baby, he never once attempts to pick up a weapon to protect the baby. What I found most offensive was a scene that clearly was intended to depict a group of Middle Eastern radicals (terrorists) parading down the streets of the walled-in and secure (?) ghetto, carrying banners and AK-47s. Why Middle Easterners and where did they get all the AK-47s in the middle of a walled-in ghetto (prison camp) in England? The good: Alfonso Cuarón produced some great cinematography. If you are interested in becoming a camera operator and or directory of photography, this is a great movie to watch. The visuals seem to be right out of the war in Iraq but with even greater intensity. Surreal gritty realism at its best. It is clear that Alfonso Cuarón wanted to create a movie with such stunning visuals that you would forced to consider mankind's future. His movie does this, but unfortunately all you see is hate, pain, and cruelty, from the point of view of a few, who seem only to want to be left alone. If Alfonso Cuarón believes this is where mankind is headed, then why care at all.
Final: Blade Runner was about the hope that men and women have (even if artificially created) and that life no matter how it turns out, is worth fighting for, even if it isn't perfect. In Children of Men most everyone wants something at the expense of others, except Theo who just wants to survive. The only hope we are left with at the end of the film, is that maybe this baby will enable the continuation of the savagery and pain we saw throughout the film. Why?