Great story, great filmmaking

Rating: 9/10 (9 November 2019)

Children of Men grabs you by the neck and keeps you watching through a harrowing hour and 40 minutes. It's evocative of Orwell's 1984, with a bit of Terry Gilliam's Brazil (sans the humor).
Based on the 1992 book by P.D. James, the story takes place in a dystopian 2027 Great Britain in which fertility has vanished from the human race. There are no babies or children, and the youngest person on the planet, age 18, has just been killed. All the major cities in the world except London have been decimated. The streets of London are battle-torn--terrorists, warring factions, the military--and it's barely safe to walk down the street.
At the same time, illegal immigrants are being rounded up and put in pens like animals (sound familiar in 2019?).
Miraculously, a young woman turns up pregnant, and various political factions want her and her baby. Theo Faron (Clive Owen), a London white collar worker, is contacted by his ex-wife (Julian (Julianne Moore) to help the young woman escape the war-torn country and find safe haven on a ship called Tomorrow.
Very little is explained in this film; it's all about the escape. Along the way, we meet Theo's friend Jasper (Michael Caine in a phenomenal performance) and several other characters who assist him (or turn out to be betrayers).
The cinematography is astounding, with many long, uninterrupted shots, ala Hitchcock. I'm having a hard time thinking of a movie that has better camera work. You can't avert your eyes.
The plot is somewhat elusive, with very little backstory, but director Alfonso Cuaron has wisely chosen to make this a visceral rather than a 'logical' film. He succeeds in captivating us.
This is one of the best films of 2006, with a high budget ($76 million), but it lost money because it was not well-promoted. Too far over the average Hollywood-brainwashed moviegoers' heads, I suppose.
Quit watching mainstream Hollywood garbage and seek out gems like this one. You will be rewarded.