Children of Men

Rating: 10/10 (27 March 2008)

In just his fourth movie directed abroad, Children of Men (USA-UK, 2006), Alfonso Cuarón establishes his great skills to take advantage of the huge technical resources and special effects of the majors, in order to use them along with an interesting and uncommon story. Although set in a futuristic scenario (seen several times before): a fascist and Orwellian society, paranoiac, xenophobic and repressive, the result is an impressive and entertaining film, formed by a great production and a superb cast.
In one of the most sublimes and outstanding scenes (adaptation of the P.D. James?s novel) Theo (remarkable Clive Owen), after surviving a rain of bullets and bombs in a tumbledown city (not far away from the modern Irak war images), he's holding while walking between soldiers and illegal immigrants the first baby girl born after 18 years without any new born child. A miraculous and hopeful image, announcing a promising future for mankind.
Cuarón is aware about the great and efficient cast he has in hands. Michael Caine (evidently he had fun performing his character) is just great as a sort of hippie of the 21th century and pacifist who fought against the war in Irak back in the 1990's and 2000's. Besides, Cuarón is able to direct with ability the action scenes and persecutions, creating outstanding digital scenarios as well (i.e. that of a huge balloon pig-shaped, taken from the cover of Pink Floyd record "Animals"). The photography is a master-work of the Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki, filming the entire movie with a shaky-cam style. His work is simply impressive, especially the last scenes where he imitates the style of a camera-man in a kind of battle field, following Clive Owen to every corner in the destroyed city.