A film Stanley Kubrick should have made...

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2008)

... although I don't quite get what it's about, apart from the obvious. I'll give it a whopping 10 stars out of 10, just for being so radically different from the usual sterile and/or infantile crap on screen, especially in fiction films.
Most fans of the book appear to be disappointed with the movie. One commenter praised the book as "profoundly religious", which to me isn't exactly an appetizing label  rather the opposite. Instead, speeches and moral statements are totally absent from the film, realism and immediacy rule. The film does a very nice job in bringing its one (ligitimate) "religious" issue across: the miracle of human procreation. If it has a message, it is: Down with racism, blind faith and intolerance, Stop killing each other, and Try Not To F**k Up Humanity. Thankfully, these "messages" are implied and not preached with finger-pointing. The action benefits from leaving much to the attention of the viewer, rather than explaining loose beginnings or ends. A good fiction film is like getting thrown into strange and murky waters and enjoying the drift. So those interested in the whole story will surely watch it over, or buy the book.
It's a wonder this thing avoided the Hollowwood swamps of stereotypes and platitudes! Its saving grace must be in the down-to-earth "British touch" and/or the director's Mexican heritage. I wouldn't believe this same director made "Harry Potter", but documentaries  yes, definitely. The creators deserve praise not only for the realistic representation of shabbiness, squalor and violence, but for showing us believable human beings, which is a rare thing especially in "action" films.
All in all, nine stars for the experience, and one for the guts to make something that's surely not to everybody's taste.