Another art movie

Rating: 9/10 (14 January 2007)

If you try to watch Children of Men as a straight story, it has many shortcomings, against which many criticisms can be leveled. Too many questions, too few answers. But it was an art movie, making a statement about the apathy infesting our own current world. People have lost the ability to love. Children, of course, represent love. But people are crashing emotionally, becoming increasingly isolated as the old networks of mutual support are collapsing due to the heartlessness of the modern, money-grubbing lifestyle. So things are looking pretty grim.
Fortunately, somewhere, there are still a few people left who can sustain the high spirits that have died in most people. This movie is about their against-the-odds struggle to keep that fire burning, and hopefully one day transfer it to the rest of humanity. This is all the movie is about, and it is minimalistically structured accordingly. Nothing extraneous is included; not even the kind of details that would have made this a wholesome story with a clear internal point. Such things would have detracted from the real message, which is that we are becoming too cold, and we better start rekindling some passion, or we'll eventually destroy ourselves.
8 out of 10.