No, it’s not another Brave New World rip-off. It’s Children of Men
Imagine being famous for nothing more than your age. Do your parents even know how old you are down to the minute? Imagine the entire world knowing.
Children of Men takes the audience on a wild ride with a somewhat downtrodden hero named Theo, portrayed by Clive Owen.
On the run from an English government that persecutes individuals of any other nationality and an activist group that wants to claim an unborn baby as their own, Theo is thrust into a game of deceit and betrayal orchestrated by a society obsessed with a hope for new life. With the help of a handful of selfless individuals, Theo strives to save the unborn child. Through his adventure, without knowing it, he begins to revive something inside himself that has been dormant since the death of his own son.
Steadicam shots and hand held camera movement bestow a documentary style on this film, which is set 20 years in the future. In some scenes the audio track becomes a character of its own, guiding the audience through long shots absent of dialogue. Dark, dirty scenes create a feeling of despair that is mirrored in the characters on screen. Still the actions of those characters, allow the audience to see current ideologies in the not so distant future, which brings to light many of our selfish ideas.
As the sounds of the playground faded, the despair set it,” a nurse accompanying our hero on his mission says as the two wander the deserted classrooms of an dilapidating elementary school.
Beautiful long camera shots pull the audience into the world through Theo’s eyes as he tries to understand why he is adamant about involving himself in something that will most likely end with his own death. Raw shots, a constantly moving camera and point of view angles maintain a look and feel that at times seem almost entirely too real.
At the emotional conclusion, the movie leaves the audience with a sense of hope when, if only for a moment, the sound of a baby crying changes the behavior of not only a handful of people, but multitudes.
Overall, Children of Men is a fast paced story told by an innovative director (Alfonso Cuaron) that leaves the viewer wondering about the path of humanity and acknowledging the good and bad we are all capable of.