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Children of Men [2006] Britain, 2027. An oppressive government is ineptly but brutally cracking down on a violent rebel faction, the Fishes. Anarchy in the rest of the world means a huge tide of illegal immigrants ['fugees'] who are caged in the streets and carted off to a de facto death camp at Bexhill. And no babies have been born for eighteen years. Ex-radical-turned-government-plodder Theo [Clive Owen] is bullied by Julian [Julianne Moore], his ex-lover and head of the Fishes, into securing a travel pass for Kee [Clare-Hope Ashitey], a young woman who turns out to be miraculously pregnant, so she can be passed off to a shadowy scientific group who want to save humanity. But Julian is assassinated, and Theo finds he can't trust her successors not to exploit the birth for their own ends - so reluctantly, he has to be a hero. There's a collision of temperaments at the heart of Children of Men. P.D. James's original novel is a by-the-numbers dystopia with third-hand ideas and a too-heavy dollop of Christian symbolism, but Alfonso Cuaron's film treatment is a-buzz with cutting edge excitement, good performances and daring cinematic coups. Cuaron's outstanding work isn't quite enough to fix all the problems of the source material: the golbal infertility plot hinge is basically a magic curse from God, and severely hampers the story's credentials as science fiction, and many elements of the miserable future on offer are familiar from A Clockwork Orange, 1984, Brazil, Survivors and every other things-are-going-to-get-worse story ever told. However, as a near-future hell film, it's a lot more credible than V for Vendetta. Here's the good stuff: Owen's solid work as a reluctant rebel, forced to go on the run without adequate footwear, and always a believable, grumpy-glum-clever centre for the movie; terrific support from Michael Caine as an old hippie political cartoonist living in the woods; lots of spot-on satirical jabs at current ills [the orgy of synthetic grief over the death of 'the youngest wanker in the world', riot-protected public transport, a loss of personal liberties of which ID cards were only the beginning]; and really exciting, ground-level action film material as Cuaron's camera [lens optionally spattered with blood] gets in the thick of things for a couple of set-pieces [the car-chase assassination, a pitched battle in Bexhill]. When it's over, many plot-holes and the pompous religious streak become
apparent - but while it's running, it's gripping, thought-provoking
stuff. First Published In: Venue [issue unknown] Visit Kim's Official Website at www.johnnyalucard.com
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