Children of Men
Children of Men
Directed by Alfonso Curón
Written by P.D. James (Novel), Alfonso Curón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby
"As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices."
The world that Children of Men creates is one that is broken and without hope. Nearly twenty years after the last baby was born all major world governments save for the British have succumbed to infighting and social strife, refugees from other countries pour into the relatively stable United Kingdom but face harsh treatment from the government. Out of this conflict comes the Fishes, a group of refugees and refugee sympathizers attempting to change the government by force.
The world is broken and bleak, with no hope of salvation. But one day, as if by miracle, a woman becomes pregnant. The first woman to do so in twenty years.
The world of Children of Men is perfectly summarized in the very first scene. The youngest person on the planet, Baby Diego, was killed by a disgruntled fan; he was eighteen years, four months, twenty days, sixteen hours and eight minutes old. A crowd of people stand in a café, crying as they learn of the death of Diego while our protagonist walks in, gets his coffee, then steps outside before a bomb explodes in the building he was just in. It's brilliant, it's brutal, and it is the perfect introduction for what is to follow.
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The story follows Theo (Clive Owen) who is a British citizen in this new world who tries to keep his head down as the police and the Fishes clash and occasionally smokes with his friend Jasper (Michael Caine). One day Theo is abducted by the fishes and his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), who is the leader of the Fishes, asks him to get transportation papers for a young woman. Theo agrees and through a series of events he comes to bring a young woman, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), to the coast because she is the first woman to become pregnant in two decades.
I found that the story of this film was very familiar in a few different ways. I can't count how many stories I've seen the older man guides younger woman to safety (Some that come to mind are Logan, The Last of Us, and True Grit) and the whole dystopian future city is also very familiar (I immediately thought of Half-Life 2's City 17 or V for Vendetta's London). I say this not to say that it is bad, I love that story and big scary dystopian city settings are an easy way to score brownie points with me. I would hardly call the story or setting original but it deals with such interesting ideas and capitalizes on them so well that I can't take off any points for it.
What really sets the world apart from other similar films is the grit and realism it uses to sell it. I'll get into the cinematography more further on, but as you can see from the opening scene much of the film is comprised of long takes in handheld documentary-style. It's very effective and makes you feel like you're really in the action, a battle scene towards the end of the movie is made even more powerful by the handheld style. To complement this everything else in the world is played very realistically. Despite taking place in the 2020's there isn't any futuristic technology, it completely sells the idea that this could be our world.
The actors perform a tremendous duty with their performances. The first time I saw this film I didn't particularly care for it, but upon watching it again I had a completely different reaction and I think that is because of the acting on display. I remember thinking on my first watch that I couldn't find an emotional connection in any of the characters, particularly Theo. I felt like all of the actors weren't bringing their A game. Upon watching it for the second time though, I actually found that the acting was much better than I initially gave it credit for.
Theo Faron is a lost man. He isn't a badass mutant like Logan or a skilled smuggler like Joel, he's a normal man who has lost everything but tries to maintain a normal life regardless. I've liked Clive Owen in the films I've seen from him, namely The Bourne Identity and Sin City, and he does a great job of playing a real person. What I mean by that is he sells his role as a normal person thrust into a frightening and dangerous situation and he does a great job of portraying that. One complaint I had when first watching this was that he doesn't show a lot of emotion despite being faced with several intense situations. I honestly don't know what I was thinking because upon re watching it I found the opposite to be the case, he plays an interesting character and he is fantastic throughout. I think what I got wrong that first time through was that he doesn't have any big scenes that I like to call the "watch me act" scene, that being where the camera gets close to the actor to showcase how great the actor is at their job. To be clear this isn't a bad thing, a great use of this scene is in There Will Be Blood when Daniel Plainview is being baptized and it's my favorite scene in that whole film. What I found in Owen's performance wasn't a watch me act scene, but instead he let his performance stand on it's own and in doing so I completely missed the subtleties because I was so engrossed in the story.
The rest of the cast does a fine job. Michael Caine is always likeable and plays a kind of hippy-stoner character who brightens up every single scene he's in. Julianne Moore is okay for the little time she has in the story but she's doesn't have a very big part so she didn't have a ton to work with. Clare-Hope Ashitey did a very good job and was a very likeable character, when she begins to open up to Owen as the film goes on you really feel protective of her and want to see her succeed. Chiwetel Ejiofor is also very good, like most of the others he doesn't have a lot of screen time but he was a very likeable character even when he does things that I considered awful. Charlie Hunnam has a small role but I've got a soft spot for him ever since Sons of Anarchy and I believed him as the angry and evil character despite the silly wig he was given.
The cinematography is fantastic throughout the film. It cannot be overstated just how effective it is at making you feel like you're in this awful place. Just like the handheld shots at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan helped immerse you in the D-day landings the handheld sections of this movie help immerse you in the world the filmmakers create. There are a lot of very nice long takes that, combined with the documentary-style cinematography, showcase the director's excellent direction and the actor's skill while also serving to transport you to this place. I cannot help but think of a battle scene that serves as the climax of the movie that is so well done that I still sit at the edge of my seat when I watch it. The military and the Fishes are engaged in all out war and Theo and Kee are stuck right in the middle of it. The film does an excellent job of getting a very authentic-feeling battlefield. Not only do you have the two factions warring it out but there are also people and animals running around trying to find safety. Some clever symbolism also enhances the tragedy of the conflict and it was as close to a real war as I think anyone would want to get.
The soundtrack is also worth mentioning. The original score as well as the licensed track from artists such as John Lennon, Donovan and Deep Purple serve to enhance the mood and even if it is overshadowed by the other fantastic elements of this film it still serves as a pretty decent mix-tape regardless.
I could spend hours speculating what I think the symbolism and imagery of the film means and attempt to provide a halfway decent analysis of it but the There Will Be Blood analysis is giving me a lot of trouble so I won't even attempt to do that for this movie but I will say that there is a lot here to unpack. The film's themes of civil unrest, clashing ideologies and persecution of others are just as relevant today as they were when this debuted and their is a lot to work through for any that are interested to try.
The biggest flaw I can attribute to this movie is that a very specific use of CGI towards the end of the movie is just awful. It isn't used a lot in this way but I think when you see it you'll know exactly what I'm referring to. It wasn't deal-breaking but it did take me out of the movie a bit.
I hope that by writing this review I have turned anyone who hasn't seen or heard of this film before on to watching it. This is a very enjoyable and important film with a lot to say about our world and it demands to be seen. I cannot recommend this film highly enough, definitely check it out.
"Shanti, shanti, shanti!"
"As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices."
The world that Children of Men creates is one that is broken and without hope. Nearly twenty years after the last baby was born all major world governments save for the British have succumbed to infighting and social strife, refugees from other countries pour into the relatively stable United Kingdom but face harsh treatment from the government. Out of this conflict comes the Fishes, a group of refugees and refugee sympathizers attempting to change the government by force.
The world is broken and bleak, with no hope of salvation. But one day, as if by miracle, a woman becomes pregnant. The first woman to do so in twenty years.
The world of Children of Men is perfectly summarized in the very first scene. The youngest person on the planet, Baby Diego, was killed by a disgruntled fan; he was eighteen years, four months, twenty days, sixteen hours and eight minutes old. A crowd of people stand in a café, crying as they learn of the death of Diego while our protagonist walks in, gets his coffee, then steps outside before a bomb explodes in the building he was just in. It's brilliant, it's brutal, and it is the perfect introduction for what is to follow.
The story follows Theo (Clive Owen) who is a British citizen in this new world who tries to keep his head down as the police and the Fishes clash and occasionally smokes with his friend Jasper (Michael Caine). One day Theo is abducted by the fishes and his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), who is the leader of the Fishes, asks him to get transportation papers for a young woman. Theo agrees and through a series of events he comes to bring a young woman, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), to the coast because she is the first woman to become pregnant in two decades.
I found that the story of this film was very familiar in a few different ways. I can't count how many stories I've seen the older man guides younger woman to safety (Some that come to mind are Logan, The Last of Us, and True Grit) and the whole dystopian future city is also very familiar (I immediately thought of Half-Life 2's City 17 or V for Vendetta's London). I say this not to say that it is bad, I love that story and big scary dystopian city settings are an easy way to score brownie points with me. I would hardly call the story or setting original but it deals with such interesting ideas and capitalizes on them so well that I can't take off any points for it.
What really sets the world apart from other similar films is the grit and realism it uses to sell it. I'll get into the cinematography more further on, but as you can see from the opening scene much of the film is comprised of long takes in handheld documentary-style. It's very effective and makes you feel like you're really in the action, a battle scene towards the end of the movie is made even more powerful by the handheld style. To complement this everything else in the world is played very realistically. Despite taking place in the 2020's there isn't any futuristic technology, it completely sells the idea that this could be our world.
The actors perform a tremendous duty with their performances. The first time I saw this film I didn't particularly care for it, but upon watching it again I had a completely different reaction and I think that is because of the acting on display. I remember thinking on my first watch that I couldn't find an emotional connection in any of the characters, particularly Theo. I felt like all of the actors weren't bringing their A game. Upon watching it for the second time though, I actually found that the acting was much better than I initially gave it credit for.
Theo Faron is a lost man. He isn't a badass mutant like Logan or a skilled smuggler like Joel, he's a normal man who has lost everything but tries to maintain a normal life regardless. I've liked Clive Owen in the films I've seen from him, namely The Bourne Identity and Sin City, and he does a great job of playing a real person. What I mean by that is he sells his role as a normal person thrust into a frightening and dangerous situation and he does a great job of portraying that. One complaint I had when first watching this was that he doesn't show a lot of emotion despite being faced with several intense situations. I honestly don't know what I was thinking because upon re watching it I found the opposite to be the case, he plays an interesting character and he is fantastic throughout. I think what I got wrong that first time through was that he doesn't have any big scenes that I like to call the "watch me act" scene, that being where the camera gets close to the actor to showcase how great the actor is at their job. To be clear this isn't a bad thing, a great use of this scene is in There Will Be Blood when Daniel Plainview is being baptized and it's my favorite scene in that whole film. What I found in Owen's performance wasn't a watch me act scene, but instead he let his performance stand on it's own and in doing so I completely missed the subtleties because I was so engrossed in the story.
The rest of the cast does a fine job. Michael Caine is always likeable and plays a kind of hippy-stoner character who brightens up every single scene he's in. Julianne Moore is okay for the little time she has in the story but she's doesn't have a very big part so she didn't have a ton to work with. Clare-Hope Ashitey did a very good job and was a very likeable character, when she begins to open up to Owen as the film goes on you really feel protective of her and want to see her succeed. Chiwetel Ejiofor is also very good, like most of the others he doesn't have a lot of screen time but he was a very likeable character even when he does things that I considered awful. Charlie Hunnam has a small role but I've got a soft spot for him ever since Sons of Anarchy and I believed him as the angry and evil character despite the silly wig he was given.
The cinematography is fantastic throughout the film. It cannot be overstated just how effective it is at making you feel like you're in this awful place. Just like the handheld shots at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan helped immerse you in the D-day landings the handheld sections of this movie help immerse you in the world the filmmakers create. There are a lot of very nice long takes that, combined with the documentary-style cinematography, showcase the director's excellent direction and the actor's skill while also serving to transport you to this place. I cannot help but think of a battle scene that serves as the climax of the movie that is so well done that I still sit at the edge of my seat when I watch it. The military and the Fishes are engaged in all out war and Theo and Kee are stuck right in the middle of it. The film does an excellent job of getting a very authentic-feeling battlefield. Not only do you have the two factions warring it out but there are also people and animals running around trying to find safety. Some clever symbolism also enhances the tragedy of the conflict and it was as close to a real war as I think anyone would want to get.
The soundtrack is also worth mentioning. The original score as well as the licensed track from artists such as John Lennon, Donovan and Deep Purple serve to enhance the mood and even if it is overshadowed by the other fantastic elements of this film it still serves as a pretty decent mix-tape regardless.
I could spend hours speculating what I think the symbolism and imagery of the film means and attempt to provide a halfway decent analysis of it but the There Will Be Blood analysis is giving me a lot of trouble so I won't even attempt to do that for this movie but I will say that there is a lot here to unpack. The film's themes of civil unrest, clashing ideologies and persecution of others are just as relevant today as they were when this debuted and their is a lot to work through for any that are interested to try.
The biggest flaw I can attribute to this movie is that a very specific use of CGI towards the end of the movie is just awful. It isn't used a lot in this way but I think when you see it you'll know exactly what I'm referring to. It wasn't deal-breaking but it did take me out of the movie a bit.
I hope that by writing this review I have turned anyone who hasn't seen or heard of this film before on to watching it. This is a very enjoyable and important film with a lot to say about our world and it demands to be seen. I cannot recommend this film highly enough, definitely check it out.
"Shanti, shanti, shanti!"
As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices.
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