A new peak in the cinematic craft

Rating: 10/10 (20 October 2006)

Children of Men is a new peak in the cinematic craft. I honestly don't know where to begin to describe just how staggeringly, remarkably mind-blowing this film is.
First, allow me to express my emotional response to the film. Depression. Elation. Shock. Levity. There are so many emotions I can't even begin to think of how to express in words that I experienced during the film. I was bawling throughout a majority of the length  which makes Children of Men the latest addition to the VERY limited list of films that made me cry. After the film, I sat in my car and just cried my eyes out for 20 minutes before I could even start the engine. It is one of the most emotionally incredible films I've ever seen. I cried from horror, hopelessness, disgust, depression hope, levity, exhilaration, beauty. All these emotions are experienced in their utmost extremes during the film.
While they seem so trivial considering just what an emotional impact the boarder picture has, it would still be a crime not to mention the technical wonders of the film. First, the conceptual ones. Nothing can even begin to compare to the level of detail, credibility, logic, and altogether brilliance of the dystopian future portrayed in Children of Men. While it is a popular theory that the human race will eventually be wiped out during an all-out nuclear war, Children of Men portrays an alternate, equally logic and brilliantly ironic end to the human race  we will die out simply from natural causes. The growth in human population has just become such a burden on nature, or God, or whatever forces you wish, and through a mysterious natural phenomenon, the entire human race becomes infertile. But the movie takes this concept and pushes it to such a depressingly horrible extreme, one can't help but admire and marvel the logic while realize the fearful truth  that we're already well on the way to this tragic future the film portrays. In an attempt to find a scapegoat, the gates of Western countries are closed and an ambitious but terrible, horrible governmental campaign sets out to rid these countries of any external influences  foreigners and immigrants are round up, put in refugee camps and eventually deported  if they're lucky. Naturally, subversive resistance groups form and use the only logical tool with which to fight governments  terrorism. It's a bleak vision but one that is far from implausible. The film's crew also meticulously creates all the little details, such as leisure activities, what the outside and the street would look like 20 years in the future, clothes, cars, trinkets, little items, newsreels, mundane routines, and just about anything else you can imagine would look like, be like and work like. It's truly nothing short of remarkable.
Another thing that is remarkable is the mind-blowing perfection of the cinematographic craft that materializes in the film. Cuaron creates a combination of down-to-earth hyper-realistic documentary-style film-making, utilizing completely hand-held cameras and long takes in order to simply allow all the details of the world and the setting exist without having to be emphasized; with an extremely self-aware use of colour tone (mainly pale blues and lots of greys) and absolutely gorgeous naturalistic lighting.
The actors and director Alfonso Cuaron did a flawless, amazing effort. Clive Owen is intense and absolutely incredible as the protagonist. As with pretty much all of his roles, it is not a showy performances and doesn't feature any of the theatrics many famous lead roles feature  it's a very minimalist ad extremely naturalistic performance, but that's not to say that it isn't intense or emotional  it is abundant in both. With this film, Owen really seals his authority as one of the most credible actors working today.
In all, Children of Men is a spectacle to behold. As an entity that exists within the cinematic craft, it's totally incomparable, with some of the best film-making I've seen in any movie, coupled with extremely remarkable direction and an even more remarkable depiction and portrayal of its setting. As a science fiction thriller, it delivers on an indescribable scale: Its concept and the mechanics of its futuristic setting are amazingly well thought-out, and their portrayal is bleak, depressing, shocking and one hundred percent credible and believable. When the film gets tense  and it is extremely tense throughout most of its runtime  it really keeps you right on the edge of your seat, clutching the handle tightly, and has you holding your breath. In the much broader sense, the film is a bleak mirror, or perhaps continuation of the already downward-spiraling current reality in the world today. Parallels between the dynamics of the world throughout its history and the setting of the film are dire and prominent. But all this is just the ribbon that ties the real package  an emotional core, a punch in the stomach so powerful; it is extremely difficult to remain oblivious.