Children of Men was by far my favourite movie this past Christmas season. Dreamgirls was solid, but this had style, great execution and wow, so much style that it wins just for existing.

 

The trailer I'd seen a few months back made it look pretty bad, like some kind of uplifting sci-fi tale (don't watch it if you haven't), but the actual movie was far from that, a lot darker and stylized than I had envisioned. In some ways, it's film noir.

 

The background is 2027. London, England. Eighteen years ago, women all over the world stopped having babies for some strange reason unknown; all pregnancies just got miscarried. So without any hope society fell into chaos, reflected in the fact that our main character, Theo (Clive Owen) lives in a fascist police-state England where democracy is given lip service; where citizens are routinely monitored and xenophobia runs high. In the midst of this, Theo is contacted by his ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore) for highly sought after transport papers for a woman named Kee. Theo doesn't understand why, but he does it anyway out of friendship. It turns out that Kee is the first woman in almost two decades to be pregnant. Set in a dystopian future with little hope, this represents a massive quantum shift in events, and Theo sets out to protect her as she tries to reach the fabled Human Project where, we presume, everyone will live happily ever after and fornicate till the sun explodes. But jokes aside, I was really impressed and surprised by the amount of detail that went into the movie, and the style - oh the style - in which everything was done.

Much has been said about the way that it was filmed, and I admit that I'll have to add another paragraph to that growing choir of praise - simply put, it's stunning. A friend who watched the film with me told me that during the battle sequences, it felt like Half-Life 2. And while I haven't played that before, I imagine that this is how the game would be like. Following closely with Theo, the camera's almost positioned at his head, dodging when bullets start firing in our direction, ducking bombs, running when Theo's running, tilting back and forth as Theo looks around, it's like watching a cinematic sequence in a video game except done in real time with real actors with real cinematic qualities. Placed in less capable hands, this would turn out something to be like that scene in Doom, but Alfonso Cuarón (director) and Emmanuel Lubezki (DP) pull it off fantastically.

 

With Theo and other characters coming in and out of the camera's POV, the audience feels like we're actually in the thick of things, as if everything is real. Furthermore, the visceral carnage inflicted on everything on screen in that seven-minute sequence is nothing short of breathtaking; bullets fly left and right, puncturing people all over the place…the shuddering and the heavy bass as tanks shell into occupied buildings - this is all in real time, with no cuts. In itself, I think it's safe to say that the film can probably stand on its own in cinematic history for sheer "whoa-ness", if that's even a term. Not to say that the movie is all action, because it isn't, and even in scenes where there isn't anything happening to that scale, the camera oozes style, positioned frequently in such a way as to see two things at the same time.  One such scene has Jasper (Michael Caine) talking to Miriam (Pam Ferris) in the background right of the screen and out of focus, while Theo listens in the foreground and to the left - scenes like these and others make your eye dart back and forth, trying to measure Theo's reactions to the sensitive discussion going on in the background. Really, I want to grow up and be just like Emmanuel Lubezki. Similarly, the minimal use of a score, and the excellent use of noise, songs and other audio effects to convey dread and various other emotions is noteworthy.

The only thing that falls short slightly is its plot. By no means is it weak, but considering the level of over-the-top awesomeness in every other category, it's a little disappointing to see that it ends on such an ambiguous note. In one scene, illegal immigrants are detained in a manner extremely similar to those at Guantanamo Bay, and the entire dystopian nature of the film and the political administration and police/army can be seen as a way of indicting the current regimes of Bush and Blair, with their ease and seemingly indifference at using force. But when asked directly in an NPR interview about his aims of a message of sorts, the director said the movie was about hope, and about how we deal with that. Given the distractions presented everywhere however, I would venture to say that it's a little hard to keep our eyes on that goal.

 

Of course the theme underlies the entire film, but the cinegraphic style and art direction seems to have taken precedent over this, leaving the audience to ultimately marvel over its style, but not over its message. In this regard, Alfonso Cuarón failed. Still, anything this engrossing and delicious to look at, with the level of tension that continually runs through the movie, is impressive to say the least and deserves repeated viewings. I will seriously be surprised if this movie doesn't get a few nominations at the Oscars next year. And to think I was going to skip this because the trailers looked lame!