When the African refugee Kee reveals her pregnancy to Theo in “Children of Men,” he mutters “Jesus Christ.”
Although Clive Owen’s character makes that dazed exclamation in a barn with the surgically abused cows lowing, he doesn’t mean it quite that way.
Or does he? Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian tale of sacrifice and miracles set in 2027 suggests there is more than one way to tell a nativity story.
When Kee (bright Brit newcomer Clare Hope-Ashitey) gets a kick out of something, she remarks “wicked” with relish. She doesn’t mean it that way either, though the smoldering chaos and cold cruelties of this near future make one wonder.
Theo is not the only person to swear when they first see Kee. More than 18 years have passed since a woman has become pregnant. Yet in the midst of upheaval, in a world gone infertile, a child just might be born.
And so an immigrant – “fugee” – mother must be protected from a xenophobic government. She must be protected too from activists who want to use her and her soon-to-be born child as a rallying symbol in an uprising.
Based on a novel by British
mystery writer P.D. James, “Children of Men” is a filmmaking feat. In the midst of mayhem, the director of “Y Tu Mamá Tabién” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” delivers subtle and jarring images, while exploring complex emotional rhythms. He has the exquisite contribution of John Tavener’s original music “Fragments of a Prayer.”
Of the willfully long shots he and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki use, Cuarón says they wanted “to squeeze the frame to the last of its potential … to hold the frame unitl there’s nothing else we can tell.” Squeeze they do, eschewing the hectic editing often used to propel action.
On Nov. 16, 2027, Londoners are riveted and wrecked by news that the youngest living human has been killed. He was a young man when he died, but he was still known throughout the world as “Baby Diego.”
As a knot of people in a cafe stare at the breaking bulletins, Theo pushes through and orders a coffee.
This is our introduction to our tarnished hero. A former activist, Theo is now an apathetic survivor. Owen’s heavy, beckoning mug tilts toward the serious. He has the look of a brooder, a doubter. Theo is a good fit.
While others wallow in mass grief, Theo uses Baby Diego’s death as an opportunity to play hooky and visit his chum Jasper (Michael Caine).
“Children of Men” is a chase flick as dirge, as lament. It reeks of the death of goodness. As with many a fine film about the devolution of human culture, it’s permeated with sorrow yet at odds with sentimentality. Loss has grown so perpetual it’s becomes the prevailing mood. Global infertility makes renewal impossible.
The British government has the nation in lockdown and is aggressively expunging illegal immigrants. The rest of the world might be heading toward hell in a handbasket, but as the news programs tout, “Britain Soldiers On.”
Julianne Moore appears as Julian, the head of an underground organization demanding full equal rights for illegal immigrants. Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Tsunami: The Aftermath” ) plays Luke, her second in command. Julian and Theo share an activist past. They also had a son together. She gives Theo the opportunity to do the right thing – that and make 5,000 pounds sterling.
When a car carrying Julian, Kee, Theo and midwife Miriam is attacked the scene is so abruptly brutal it makes clear “Children of Men” will require sacrifice on our parts as well. Form attachments to characters at your emotional peril.
Anger and fear are ever present here, but sloppy sentiment is nearly extinct. Thank goodness, then, for Jasper.
Looking like John Lennon had he lived to a ripe old age, Caine’s character lives in a pine barren hideaway tending his wife. When Theo, Kee and the midwife Miriam (Pam Ferris) make it to Jasper’s woodland refuge, the pace of camaraderie turns human and humane.
It gives nothing away to say the movie ends as it began it: with a black screen and telling sounds.
Listen closely, and you may hear a strangely hopeful requiem for us all.
“Children of Men” | *** RATING
R for strong violence, language, some drug use and brief nudity|1 hour, 54 minutes|FUTURIST DRAMA|Directed by Alfonso Cuarón; written by Cuarón,
Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby; photography by Emmanuel Lubezki; starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Clare-Hope Ashitey|Opens today at area theaters.
