Children of Men Science Fiction DVD Review
Posted by: admin in Science Fiction Movies, post apocalypse
Mankind’s future is pretty bleak - extraordinarily bleak in fact - in the movie Children of Men, adapted from P.D. James’ story of the same name. In the year 2009, the last child is born, and since that day, for unknown reasons, women across the globe have become infertile.
The movie begins with a television reporter announcing that the youngest person on the planet, “Baby Diego” has been killed at age 18. Clive Owen meanwhile is busy trying to buy a cup of coffee, and as he leaves the coffee shop the grim state of the world is revealed: a bomb explodes at the coffee shop that he was just visiting.
From there, Children of Men portrays an Earth that has essentially given up on itself. Societies everywhere are crumbling, and England is trying to hold on to the last of it’s civilization. Immigrants are hunted and captured to travel to terrible prison camps where hope is in short supply. Theo, played by Clive Owen, finds all of it a little absurd - he doesn’t care about the decline of the world, and his apathy is only emboldened by the threat to his life and the death of Baby Diego. However, his ex-wife turned rebel “terrorist” played by Julianne Moore needs his help.
What follows is the tale of our anti-hero Theo discovering that there may yet be hope for humanity, in the form of a pregnant immigrant that desperately needs to reach the mythical Human Project to keep her baby protected from the governments of the Earth.
Children of Men is a unique movie, in both cinematic qualities and also the storyline itself. It portrays a planet in decay similar to stories like 1984 and V for Vendetta. There is a certain assumption that at some point, if humanity faces extinction that the whole system will simply break down. This is a pessimistic view of the future that has actually be echoed in dozens of stories in numerous mediums.
From a visual standpoint, Children of Men features some awesome cinematography courtesy of nonstop one-camera scenes. It’s rare to see a movie that maintains a single camera for such a long shot, including everything from planning a getaway to running away from enemies while trying to jumpstart a car, or running through a prison camp under attack from nearly every angle. These shots give Children a gritty feeling, and it also speaks volumes to the special effects coreography that had to go in to making the entire film work. My only complaint about nearly the entire movie is a scene where Michael Caine puts on some “Zen” music that is waaay too loud for the rest of the soundtrack, and is filled with shrieks and screams. It’s a crappy scene, and if you’re in a quiet neighborhood like I am, you try not to alarm the neighbors with screaming soundtracks.
Overall, I enjoyed Children of Men, and I think I owe it to myself to put the book on my reading list as well to see how things compare.
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August 7th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I went to see this movie with my family and a few friends and they all hated it. They thought it was disgusting and pointless. I came away disallusioned (mainly from their response) and later decided I should have seen this film on my own. Because I thought it was a very well made cautionary tale in the vein of Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. Gritty, raw and poignant. I totally agree with you, SF Guy. It told a story that wasn’t pretty with some magnificent cinematography and superbly played by the various actors. Disturbing and real. You might like my review of Pan’s Labyrinth at the Alien Next Door (http://sfgirl-thealiennextdoor.blogspot.com/2007/05/pans-labyrinth-innocence-has-power-evil.html).