Children of Men

Review by Steve Rogers

Production Year: 2006
DVD Release Date: March 27, 2007
Studio: Universal Studios
Director: Alfonso Quarón
Cast: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine
Genre: Science Fiction - Drama
MPAA Rating: R

Adapted from the P.D. James novel of the same name, Children of Men paints a grim picture of a not so distant future world verging on the brink of chaos and collapse. Set in England in the year 2027, Director Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) has fashioned a sobering and uncompromisingly grim vision of where humankind finds itself in the early 21st Century. Cities are decaying, immigration has reached critical mass and been criminalized, and most notably there hasn’t been a human baby born in 18 years.

The film’s central protagonist is Theo (Clive Owen in an understated yet riveting performance), a government bureaucrat and former political radical, who has descended into the misery of the end days with a listless stupor stoked by the bottle. Theo is contacted by his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore) via a kidnapping by The Fishes, a rebel guerrilla group she still heads. Theo soon realizes that he’s been hijacked for the group’s singularly important mission: they’re protecting a woman who’s actually gotten pregnant. From that point on the plot moves along at a brisk pace, and the resulting chase scenarios and action sequences serve up a suspense-packed thriller with compelling political overtones.

Children of Men is intelligent sci-fi and, as with the best examples of the genre, a cautionary tale. Caurón and his production designers have crafted a realistically bleak portrait of the near future, where immigrants (or “fugees”) are herded into cages and trussed up in hoods. The images evoke Nazi Germany and Abu Ghraib, as deportation buses labeled “Homeland Security” further define how the director envisions the endgame of current political turmoil will play out. It’s a nightmarish landscape where school buildings rot in disrepair (remember, no kids left), major cities have been transformed into grimy shantytowns, and government billboards hawk a drug called Quietus that offers a kindler, gentler method of suicide. The whole picture makes the stylized futurevison of Blade Runner look downright comfy. Comic relief is provided in the form of Michael Caine as Jasper, an aging hippie activist friend of Theo, who reminisces about the good old days, smokes a lot of pot, and continually goads people with the “pull my finger” joke.

The movie is a thought-provoking look at the human road best not taken if the planet and its people (all of them) are to survive with any sense of humanity and dignity intact. Cuarón offers no easy solutions, but instead challenges his audience with a brutal and unnervingly familiar look at an apocalyptic world fast closing in on us.

Video Quality

The film is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic image with a muted color palette well suited to the bleak dystopian environment of the film. The use of hand-held cameras and extended action sequences perfectly complement the drab gray hues that dominate the film. Fleshtones on the multicultural sea of faces in the movie are rendered in natural detail, enhancing the ultra realism of the film. The transfer is flawless, accurately preserving Cuarón’s artistic vision.

Audio Quality

The 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack is spectacular, with diverse and creative use of the front channels and surrounds creating scores of ambient effects. The extended battle scene between the British army and a band of pro-immigration rebels in the burnt out rubble of a squalid ghetto will keep you fully engaged, with bullets seeming to zing by your head and explosions that will rattle your walls.

Special Features

Universal has included a number of featurettes in the bonus features section, highlighted by the 30-minute documentary, The Possibility of Hope, which presents historians and philosophers discussing the film in the context of globalization and the perils of global warming. The briefer featurettes provide an overview of the set design, special effects, and character development that enhance one’s appreciation of the artistic and political statement delivered by Children of Men. There are also three deleted scenes which don’t serve any real purpose.

Summary

Children of Men was one of the smartest sci-fi films to come along in decades, and one of the best films of 2006. Alphonso Caurón encapsulates some of our deepest fears along with human survival instincts into a nightmarish cinematic landscape that begs for reaction. It’s masterful moviemaking and Universal Studio’s DVD release has preserved that vision in all its grimy visual and aural splendor for home theater aficionados to experience. Be forewarned: the MPAA tag probably should have read “graphic violence” instead of “strong violence”.