Children of Men

Every so often a movie comes along that is just so good you can’t even find the right words to describe it and 2006 brought us a few movies like that- The Prestige, The Departed and finally Children of men. This movie is so top notch that while watching it I got Goosebumps several times just because of how excellent it was. It may seem like mere hyperbole but it isn’t. This movie is yet another example of flawless filmmaking. Director Alfonzo Cuaron (The third Harry Potter movie and Y tu mama Tambien) has created a true masterpiece. A movie filled with intense drama, insane action and infinite heart, Children of Men soars like a dove above an utterly hopeless world.


It is the year 2029 and for 18 years women have been unable to conceive children and no known cause has been found. The world’s youngest person has just died and Earth is spiraling vastly out of control. We see news clips of former economic giants like the USA and Japan under ruins, but the news claims Britain is still going strong. As we watch though, we realize that is a false statement. Britain maybe surviving but it has been relegated to total anarchy. Some, like me, could make parallels to the modern regime of American power, but I don’t think this movie is trying to hammer that thought home. Clive Owen is a man without hope. We learn he used to be a man of passion and fire, but the death of his infant years ago and his Wife’s absence has made him bitter and almost robotic. Owen is brilliant here as he makes the change from bitter to hopeful when he is faced with a young woman who is some how pregnant. The rest of the film is essentially a chase film wrapped in a war film wrapped in a character struggle film. Michael Caine provides a bit of comic relief as a former political cartoonist who passes the time by smoking new strands of Marijuana and being a friend to Clive Owen.


There is a 40 minutes sequence at the end of the film that is almost like anything I have ever seen in a movie. It looks as if this giant war, being shown from 3 different views is shot in one swooping shot as the one camera weaves through the desolate town like a snake through the jungle. I have never seen war or desolation shot with such grace and beauty, yet managing to show the grit and nastiness of war. Empty cities and run down roads are shot like they were majestic wonders of the world and not a single shot is taken for granted. This movie does not give us any concrete answers and if that bothers you and you don’t see it you will be missing out. We never find out anything for certain but in the end it doesn’t seem to matter because of the journey Clive has taken with us. He is more than up to the task of carrying a whole movie on his back and more than proves he has what it takes to be heroic. I don’t want to ruin the end, but I want to say that it ended perfectly and if you see it please tell m so we can have a discussion about the symbolism of the animals and what you think the ending meant. Also, this movie features on of the slowest moving yet highly effective chase scenes in movie history