Children of Men, released last week on DVD, is an ultramodern tale of a war-torn world in which the human race has not successfully reproduced for the past 18 years.
Set in Britain in the year 2027, the film follows Theo Faron (Clive Owen) as he is strong-armed into helping a terrorist organization that is headed by his ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore). A semi-rekindled romance between the two is short lived, and unbeknown to Theo, he begins assisting the world’s only pregnant woman.
The plotline and abrupt, metaphorical ending take a backseat to the film’s well-crafted dystopian society and semi-apocalyptic atmosphere. Director Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) excels in creating stark images of a futuristic world on the brink, as well as putting together lengthy action sequences that use one camera with minimal to no cuts. Dramatic escapes encompass the finest moments of Children of Men, and visuals that include caged busses, internment camps, and futuristic technological devices help Cuarón establish his vision of this bleak future.
The DVD contains an excellent mini-feature on globalization, an undercurrent in the film that does not receive enough focus. The piece, titled “The Possibility of Hope,” calls political and economic inequality the “definition of infertility,” discusses an “economic model that thinks like a crack addict,” and touches on both global warming and “climate apartheid.”
– Scott Morrow
Children of Men
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
110 minutes, Universal Pictures
www.childrenofmen.net
Opened 12/25/06 in theaters; released 3/27/07 on DVD