Children of Men
Written by Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Universal
2006
Rating:


Science fiction, fantasy and horror have become the last sanctuaries for searing political commentary. The last five years have seen a rise in more dramatic political films, but with this literal-mindedness comes heavy-handedness. Political commentary works perfectly under the auspices of sci-fi, fantasy and horror because these genres are the perfect place for metaphor and, because they're frequently underestimated, they provide sanctuary for voices of dissidence. Compare the cultural impact of the films of George Romero, including the retroactive Katrina parable "Land of the Dead", to the already nearly forgotten literalism of "Syriana" for an example of how much more forceful genre movies can be by treading in allegory.

P.D. James' 1992 sci-fi novel "The Children of Men" is a different kind of allegory than the one director Alfonso Cuarón has turned it into. James' view of a future apocalypse is more biblical in nature, with the world suffering from male sexual impotence and widespread violence because of a God-like act of vengeance: the world has turned into Sodom and Gomorrah, and it will be smote as such. Cuarón and his co-screenwriter Timothy J. Sexton (others are credited with the script but Cuarón says he had nothing to do with their drafts) have transformed James' parable into a humanist work of folk art that illuminates the world's current political crisis through one man's moral evolution.

The film begins in London in the year 2027, 18 years after women (not men as in James' novel) became infertile. Nuclear wars have ravaged the planet, rendering Africa and Afghanistan uninhabitable. A flu pandemic wiped out a significant portion of the world's population. Terrorism is widespread. Seattle has been under siege for more than 1000 days. The environment crumbles from pollution and effluence. Drugs used to commit suicide are commonplace. Cows are burned in fields like during the Mad Cow crisis of the 1990s. An Orwellian government has risen — posters declare that "Only Britain Soldiers On". Those looking for a better life immigrate to England and are detained in cages or internment camps that evoke the Holocaust, the imprisonment of Japanese immigrants during the 1940s and Sarajevo.

This future world created by Cuarón and production designers Jim Clay and Geoffrey Kirkland is terrifying because it's so easily knowable. Until now "Blade Runner" presented the most realistic vision of the future. "Children of Men" surpasses that prophecy by only slightly exaggerating the present to create its speculative dystopia. This is not a world of robots and hover cars: flat screen televisions may be more prevalent and cars slightly more sleek, but technology hasn't become that much more advanced as society descends into hell. The only aspect of life that has truly progressed is apathy.

Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is such an indifferent figure as the film begins. While getting his coffee at a café he unfeelingly nudges aside those tearfully gripped by the news: the youngest living person in the world has died (the depiction of people moved by the death of someone they didn't really know is reminiscent of the mourning of Princess Diana). Theo leaves and, moments later, the café is rocked by an explosion that kills everyone inside and causes Theo to spill his coffee. Theo still goes to work at the Ministry of Energy, passing caged immigrants as he goes, but he gets permission to go home early by claiming he has been devastated by the death of "Baby Diego" instead of the bombing that nearly claimed his own life.

Existential catatonia prevents Theo from engaging in discussions about the current state of the world with his friend Jasper (Michael Caine); Theo would rather smoke Jasper's marijuana (still laughably illegal) than theorize about why women can no longer make babies.

Theo is soon shaken from his apathetic slumber when he's abducted by militant underground rebels The Fishes. Theo's ex-wife Julian (named for "1984's" Julia and played by Julianne Moore) leads the organization. Julian and Theo haven't seen each other since their son Dylan died, but she needs Theo now because she wants letters of transit for West African immigrant Kee (Claire-Hope Ashley). Theo, a former activist, doesn't care much for The Fishes' cause, but he agrees to help for £5000. In one of the film's quieter and more quietly subversive scenes, Theo obtains these papers from his cousin Nigel (Danny Huston), a curator for the "Ark of the Arts" that has salvaged a Michelangelo's damaged "David" and Picasso's "Guernica" and is flying the inflatable pig from Pink Floyd's "Animals" cover over Battlesea Power Station. After acquiring the letters, Julian is told what's at stake: Kee is pregnant and the only place where she'll be safe is with the "Human Project." (Cuarón's decision to make women instead of men incapable of reproduction subversively makes a black female immigrant — as opposed to a white male — man's hope for survival.)

Despite this revelation Theo's decision to join Kee on her journey to board the Human Project's ship the Tomorrow is at least partially for selfish reasons because his life has been placed in danger. "Children of Men" is as much about the fall and redemption of Theo as it is about the ruin and salvation of humanity. That Theo is given the "Casablanca" task of acquiring letters of transit isn't just a throwaway line. Theo is a Bogart-ian anti-hero who must be rattled from his apathy to save Kee and himself. Cuarón spectacularly conveys this by systematically stripping Theo of his clothes, shoes, coat and liquor: his bits of armor are torn away and used in the name of good.

As Theo and Kee engage in their quest across England the film takes on the structure and subtext of Cuarón's "Y Tu Mamá También": that film was ostensibly about the sexual awakening of two young Mexican men, but, like "Children of Men," the cross-country trip to the sea allows for a background commentary on the state of the world. Slouching toward Bethlehem, Theo and Kee encounter scenes and images reminiscent of Abu Ghraib prison, the Guántanamo Bay detainment camp, the fighting in Kabul, Baghdad and Fallujah, the Detroit and Los Angeles riots and Kosovo.

Cuarón and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki ("The New World") convey this moral and social chaos through the use of Herculean single takes that last three to 10 minutes (CGI was used to blend some shots together, but it has been done seamlessly and doesn't dilute the photography's power). In one sequence, Cuarón claustrophobically details an attack on a car, resetting the bar for the power of a car chase. Another sequence creates space while enhancing the danger when Theo makes his way through a battle-torn internment camp. Using the long take isn't just a bravura technical accomplishment; it serves to viscerally thrust the audience into the film's world, refusing the viewers a respite from the tension of Theo's harrowing journey and underlining the similarities between a not-so-distant future and the present.

Bleak as this dysopia may be, Cuarón reveals a tentative faith in humanity in the form of Theo as he comes to convey man's best attributes: compassion, self-sacrifice and hope. "Children of Men" may say the apocalypse is now, but the film more boldly states the future can still be fought and won.

Posted Monday, January 22, 2007

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