A Dank Dismal View of Post Blairite England

Rating: 1/10 (24 January 2007)

Britain's best film making was the golden age of Ealing Studios, where such gems as KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS,THE LADYKILLERS,THE LAVENDER HILL MOB,PASSPORT TO PIMLICO were at one end and by the time of the lavish blockbusters of David Lean the era was already in decline. The films showed honest labourers with a charm and humanity, and also the rich at play with style and elegance. Consider then the subject matter of CHILDREN OF MEN: a dismal world that England has become under Blair, rank, decaying, everything broken, covered with mildew, graffiti, nothing working, abandoned old cars, dodgy looking immigrants everywhere, shoddy clothes, smoke and pollution everywhere, everyone looking and being unpleasant, 1984-style guards in a shadow of SS or NKVD lookalikes. What is there in this film so the eye can rest on? There is no comfort anywhere. Everything is dirty, the colours bleached, the greens made khaki, sour orange. There are no nice cars, no nice houses, kitchens, gardens, anything. At least Tarkovsky had a driving narrative, critically composed frames, and a superior moral stance as he was battling the Soviet regime from within. This has no such claims. The hero is played by Clive Owen who resembles a block of wood, inheriting the role once made famous by Liam Neeson. Julianne Moore is in it for about 15 minutes then gets shot dead (a merciful release) and then so does Michael Caine, who is the sole positive thing about this movie. The subject matter concerns that the authorities in this future world are preventing/have prevented/ or maybe considering to prevent/ any more babies being born. I couldn't care less which of those it was. On fast forward, it doesn't really matter. The film shows an England in a world devoid of any reference to God, or the joys and compassion it brings to life, so the whole tenet and tone of this film to me is utterly pointless. It has all the air of a made for TV BBC film, did I say film? more like the filmed bits in a dismal 1970's BBC video tape series like Doctor Who. In the 40's someone faced with the subject matter of this film would just run away to Florida, or Utah. In a French film of the 50's everyone would have a car crash; in the 60's people would sing; in the 70's they would turn to drugs; in the 80's they would turn to technology. In the 90's they would send a rocket to some distant planet to summon help; now we have no solution, only the off switch. The whole thing is so joyless and unsympathetic that I had given up caring what the plot was, or what the outcome was, and the only thing that baffles me is why such obvious talents as Cuaron, Lubetzki, and Caine should waste on such subject matter. The last time I watched something so awful was in student days when the film club had booked a documentary with the irresistible title of LABOUR UNREST IN SAO TOME. (Well it was the late 60's) And this has been nominated for some Oscars? Please, Gentlemen, try harder.