Children of Men
Alfonso Cuaron once again proves that he is a master filmmaker. His direction of Children of Men is absolutely outstanding. And Emanuel Lubezki's cinematography is exquisite. The screenplay (adapted from a book by P.D. James) is well written by Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby.
The year is 2027 and their hasn't been a child born for eighteen years. The government forbids births. The youngest person on earth is shot dead in Argentina. Most of the world is a disaster but the UK seems to be chugging along in its own way. Theo Faron (Clive Owen) used to be a political activist but now he just wants to survive (drinking is one of the ways he does this). One of his great enjoyments is visiting his friend Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine) who is basically an old hippie. One day Theo is abducted by a group of thugs (or so he thinks). He soon learns that his ex-lover Julian (Julianne Moore) is part of this group. The group is against the government's ban on having children and they have found a woman who is actually pregnant. They want Theodore take the woman to Brighton to meet up with The Human Project which will guarantee her safety. In addition to being pregnant the woman, who is named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), is an illegal immigrant. All illegal immigrants are rounded up and put into camps. And that is all I will tell you about the plot.
The gray, battle torn streets of London are very realistic. And the way Cuaron filmed the scenes where the immigrants are lining up for their fate reminds you of some of the films that dealt with The Holocaust (indeed this is a fascist government). Some of the other actors in the film are Danny Huston as Theo's cousin Nigel - Theo initially asks him for help in getting transit papers, Chiwetel Ejiofer as Luke - one of the key members of Julian's group, Peter Mullan as Syd - a man that Jasper tells Theo to ask for help, and Pam Ferris as Miriam - a midwife who is supposed to help Kee with the birth. All of the actors are wonderful even though many of them are only in the film for a very short time.
Children of Men is an excellent and frightening portrait of the not too distant future. And it gave me much food for thought about how things might turn out in the world if we do not reverse the direction that it is going in.
Oh, and one last thing - I ordered the book from the library and I look forward to comparing it to the film.
The year is 2027 and their hasn't been a child born for eighteen years. The government forbids births. The youngest person on earth is shot dead in Argentina. Most of the world is a disaster but the UK seems to be chugging along in its own way. Theo Faron (Clive Owen) used to be a political activist but now he just wants to survive (drinking is one of the ways he does this). One of his great enjoyments is visiting his friend Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine) who is basically an old hippie. One day Theo is abducted by a group of thugs (or so he thinks). He soon learns that his ex-lover Julian (Julianne Moore) is part of this group. The group is against the government's ban on having children and they have found a woman who is actually pregnant. They want Theodore take the woman to Brighton to meet up with The Human Project which will guarantee her safety. In addition to being pregnant the woman, who is named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), is an illegal immigrant. All illegal immigrants are rounded up and put into camps. And that is all I will tell you about the plot.
The gray, battle torn streets of London are very realistic. And the way Cuaron filmed the scenes where the immigrants are lining up for their fate reminds you of some of the films that dealt with The Holocaust (indeed this is a fascist government). Some of the other actors in the film are Danny Huston as Theo's cousin Nigel - Theo initially asks him for help in getting transit papers, Chiwetel Ejiofer as Luke - one of the key members of Julian's group, Peter Mullan as Syd - a man that Jasper tells Theo to ask for help, and Pam Ferris as Miriam - a midwife who is supposed to help Kee with the birth. All of the actors are wonderful even though many of them are only in the film for a very short time.
Children of Men is an excellent and frightening portrait of the not too distant future. And it gave me much food for thought about how things might turn out in the world if we do not reverse the direction that it is going in.
Oh, and one last thing - I ordered the book from the library and I look forward to comparing it to the film.
posted by Film Fanatic | 2:07 PM
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