message in the movies By Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

               
Children of Men  Rated R
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón.  Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore


Photos © Universal Pictures
It is the year 2027 and the year is in terrible shape.  Sure, we’ve seen the world in tough scrapes before, but it’s really in bad shape now.  Imagine all of civilization resembling the worst sections of war-torn Baghdad, and you’ll begin to envision the scenario presented in “Children of Men”, loosely based on a 1992 novel by P.D. James.  The film never quite explains how things took such a turn for the worst, but it may be nothing more or less than deep, dark despair. Women are no longer able to reproduce, so the human species is on its way to extinction.  Suicide kits are advertised on television with calm acceptance. Theo Faron (Owens) is an employee of Great Britain’s Ministry of Energy and he lives a solitary life bereft of wife and children.  The country is considered the last bastion of civilization, but at a terrible price: anyone who tries to enter the country is arrested as an illegal immigrant and sent to a government prison.  Theo is approached by a former girlfriend (Moore) to join an underground movement in their efforts to transport Kee, a young refugee, (Clare-Hope Ashitey) to sanctuary with a group called the Human Project.  Kee is pregnant, and may hold the hope of the world in her womb.  It was perhaps no coincidence that this film opened on Christmas Day, for it is a different kind of Nativity story, with explosions instead of angels surrounding the solitary mother.  This is a fast-moving and suspenseful story, and Owens lends the film dignity and gravitas as its world-weary and brave Everyman.  I am in awe of Alfonso Cuarón’s visionary film, which can be compared to the best of director Stanley Kubrick’s work.  Children of Men resists becoming a polemic about the sorry state of the world today and, instead, stands as a distinctive work of art.  There is beauty to be found in the midst of chaos, and “Children of Men” will surprise you with its moments of grace and redemption.  This is my favorite film of 2006.

Pitchfork Rating: Four halos.  . (A visionary masterpiece of a world gone mad, but not beyond hope.)  Three pitchforks.  (Unremitting violence; some profanity; nudity of a non-sexual nature.)

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