Alfonso Cuarón’s ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" “Y tu mamá también”) newest movie, “Children of Men,” fits most of these criteria perfectly. The movie is set in 2027 where New York has been nuked, most civilization has fallen and women have been infertile for 18 years. Unlike the more familiar sci-fi camp, however, these standard conventions do not feel old and tired in “Children of Men,” but fresh and frightening.
This film is successful because of how uncomfortably close to home it feels. Set only 20 years into the future, and with many similar problems as today such as terrorists and fear of foreigners, the impossibility usually associated with futuristic movies is gone. Instead it is replaced with a question: Could this sort of future exist?
The answer is probably not, but that doesn’t hurt “Children of Men” much. Sure, there are some strange unanswered questions such as why are women infertile, or how does a woman, named Kee, suddenly become pregnant. These can be easily overlooked, however, by how engrossing the images and performances are.
Clive Owen, playing everyman hero Theo, is easy to cheer on for his realistic reluctance, rough back story, and sheer sense of reason. Michael Caine delivers a slightly weird and tired performance, but he brings a couple laughs in an otherwise very dark movie (watch for the scene where he puts on a rock song of the future, and assume this is what your parents feel like listening to music now).
Some other strangeness in “Children of Men” is harder to overlook than Caine. To appreciate this movie, you are asked to believe that in 20 years, Britain will house thousands of foreign refugees in camps reminiscent of Nazi work camps and will be one of the only civilized nations still intact. In addition, some of the motives of the terrorists in the movie are never explained, so you’re left either to sit and wonder or just accept Cuarón’s word that their actions are for a reason.
The look and feel of the movie also helps bypass the norms of sci-fi and ignore the plot holes. With frequent hand-held camera work, gritty and realistic special effects, graphic violence, and slightly washed-out colors, it is easy to start feeling like you’re watching a war film. The new technology in the movie never seems improbable, and the computer graphics are kept to a minimum and blend seamlessly into the rest of the movie.
“Children of Men” is many things at once, from painful to exciting, while still managing to undeniably fit into the stigma-ridden science fiction genre. Don’t let the futuristic setting steer you away from seeing this movie. “Children of Men” resonates all-too-eerily for the present.
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