 | |  | | Media: | HD/SD Combo DVD | | Region: | 1 (USA) | | Studio: | Universal Pictures Home Entertainment | | Cert: | R | | Discs: | 1 |
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Screen captures are for illustration purposes and may not originate from the item reviewed. | | Children of Men Review| HD/SD Combo DVD review written by Simon Crust, published 11th May 2007 | Supplied for review by  | Before I start this review proper, a few words about the disc itself. As many in the forums have already noticed this disc has suffered from a few problems in a few players. It may or may not please you to know that I too had problems with playing this disc. Most were sorted by upgrading the firmware; however, the disc is still twitchy, refusing to load and the like. So it is at least gratifying to know that Universal have at last issued a statement, in the past few days, acknowledging that there is a problem with the discs and that they will swap any that are faulty. So good news.
Just in his mid forties, Alfonso Cuarón already has an impressive résumé. Working in most parts of the film industry he is making his mark as a visionary director. With only a few small titles to his name he was picked, some thought foolishly at the time, to helm Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), a film widely regarded as the best of the franchise thus far. His upbringing out of the Hollywood system and his refusal to bow to it hold him in high esteem, his films are of that rare breed, thought provoking. With Children of Hope, Cuarón takes a look at a not to distant future, and dissects it. It is a hard film to watch, not so much because of the subject matter, but due to the way it is presented. It has quickly become one of my favourite films.
Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is a disillusioned office worker living in the general chaos of Britain in a near future, where women can no longer bare children. Because of his well placed, but estranged brother, he is singled out by a radical terrorist group to escort a girl to the coast. However, when he finds out she is pregnant and that the group wish to use the child for their own political agenda, he becomes an unwitting champion and protector, willing to risk all to see the child safe. Essentially,
that is the plot of the film, it is simple but effective. But as I said in the previous paragraph it is the way the story is presented that makes it such a compelling watch.
Cuarón, his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and the art and production team have created a world that is at once recognisable and totally alien. Familiar British landmarks are surrounded by an alien landscape of chaos and devastation. It is a dirty world, filled with the rot of a nation that has nothing to live for. A Britain that has declared all foreigners illegal, and enforces that order with military hardness, treating its captives less than animals by caging them; atrocity after atrocity in crimes that would make the Nazi’s blush. A Britain with a Government that is as corrupt as the country it governs with radical terror groups coming a close second. And this world is shown for what it is, by using a hand held camera (a technique that can both annoy and enthral) and filling the frame with dirt and rot, background GCI is used to create a cityscape to give Blade Runner (1982) a run for its money. Although I hate the phrase, there is a ‘documentary realism’ to the piece, the world is happening around the central characters, always there, always oppressive, but never central. A periphery world that is full of horror and despair, but looks so good in the frame.
Cuarón too handles his characters well, even though the characters are somewhat under written and to a point stereotypical. However, there is just enough emotion driven home that once you begin to care for them something tragic happens along; and so sudden; shot with that same ambivalence as the backgrounds that at one you are drawn into the plight, willing the endeavours with relief and disappointment constant bedfellows. The action sequences are not glorified, neither are they skipped over or left off camera for the imagination; rather they just happen. The shocking death of a main character leads directly into a motor bike chase that is quite breathtaking in its intensity. Gun shots are shown as an act, there is no ringing surround sound, nor is there any splatter, a nasty act with horrific consequences. The death of a second main character is shot with a long lens, in one continuous shot, with sound to match, it is heartbreaking and cringe worthy to sit through, the investment in the character being just enough. And the final battle sequence, one continuous shot for nigh on ten minutes, with blood splatter on the camera lens, this is heart stoppingly intense to watch, as Theo picks his way through the gun torn streets, over rubble, bodies and more. A scene that has to be as close to actually being there as I’ve ever seen, Cuarón and his team need to be congratulated on such a fine piece of filming.
It is without doubt that this filming style and choices have made this film, since the basic story, simple characters and occasional illogical plotting (just how did the terrorists find the hidden pad before the police anyway?) are nothing without it, though as it stands Children of Men towers above its peers as an inventive and compelling piece of story telling and one that deserves full recognition for its excellence.
Movie score : 9 | | 922 word review written by Simon Crust. |  | To comment on this review, click here and post a reply.
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