Children Of Men

By Simon Woodhouse

If the movies have taught us anything, it's that life in the near future isn't going to be much fun. We're all either slaves to machine overlords (The Matrix), living in dingy urban sprawls (Blade Runner) or being hunted by murderous robots in a post apocalyptic wasteland (The Terminator I, II & III). It's enough to make you never want to get out of bed again. I suppose happy, colorful future-scapes wouldn't make for exciting cinema. The only saving grace in films like these is the suggestion, usually once the baddie has been slain, that perhaps the future won't be quite so bad after all. However, every now and then a near future doom-fest comes along that doesn't even have a happy ending the save us all from wanting to kill ourselves.

Children Of Men is set in a near future version of England. Things are bad. Racial persecution is rampant, there's a plague that's made everyone sterile, terrorist factions are at work everywhere and the government has gone all fascist dictatorship. Trying to get by in this rather dreary world is Theo Faron (Clive Owen), an ordinary bloke who just wants to be left alone. However, a former girlfriend, Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore), is now part of an underground terrorist organization who wants his help. Theo's in a position to get hold of travel documents, that'll allow one of the terrorists to reach the south coast of England without being hassled by the police. Theo does what Julian wants (partly to get her off his back, but also because her organization pays him). But when the documents are issued, they're for two people, which means Theo has to go as well.

This is when he learns he'll be escorting the last pregnant woman on earth. Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), is quite literally worth her weight in gold. He's accompanied for part of the journey by Julian, and Kee's midwife Miriam (Pam Ferris)

Most of the opening scenes are set in a very run down version of London. To say it's a bit of a depressing place is an understatement. But there's a temporary reprieve when Theo and co. leave the city and head south. The English countryside has survived the plague, fascism etc. relatively unscathed. When I say it's a temporary reprieve, I wasn't kidding. The plot takes several twists and turns as the film rolls on. People who appeared friendly at first turn out to be anything but, and all these switchbacks eventually lead to Theo and Kee having to carry on alone. Not only alone, but being chased by any number of nasty people who want to get their hands on Kee.

Though the good guys become the bad guys, and the bad guys get worse, Theo sticks to the original plan. Kee's only hope of salvation is a boat that'll take her to the Human Project, a sanctuary located on the Azores Islands. The boat will wait off the seaside town of Bexhill, but not for long.

Besides the few brief moments of respite at the beginning of the trip south, the film is heavy going. There aren't a lot of laughs. Theo spends some time with his friend Jasper (Michael Caine), but you can just tell this is going to lead to something bad. The violence is quite graphic, and I don't think I've ever watched a film with quite so many F words in it. After a while all the swearing starts to get annoying. The expletives come so thick and fast they lose all meaning, which kind of defeats the object. And if you're hoping for a happy ending, I'm afraid you're out of luck. Perhaps that's a little unfair. There is a happy ending of sorts, but not everyone's happy.

For the most part, the acting's not bad. But it's not brilliant. Clive Owen is ok, but he had his work cut out for him trying to make Theo likeable. Julianne Moore turns in a workman like performance, but hers isn't a huge role. In fact, to say she stars in the film is almost false advertising. The desolate, urban landscape of inner city London pretty much sets the tone of the film. If you're after a bit of light entertainment, Children Of Men won't be for you. And I'd be hard pushed to say who it is for. There's not enough sci-fi to satisfy fan boys, but it's also too heavy for the casual observer. I almost get the impression the film makers were making it for themselves, which is ok, but they're probably going to be a bit miffed when they look at their bank accounts.