Cinema: Children of men

Set in Britain in 2027, the film "Children of Men" stars Clive Owen (as Theo) who plays an ex-activist, resigned to living in a violent and chaotic world where women have become infertile and where an oppressive government struggles to control the influx of refugees from around the world. Through his ex-wife (Julianne Moore - one of my favourite actresses) Theo unwillingly finds himself helping an African 'fugee', Kee, to escape from Britain. Director Alfonso Cuarón, one of the rising stars of the new Mexican cinema - see previous post (who directed "Y tu maman también" and more recently “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”) paints a grey and depressing portrait of an anarchic Britain. The script (based on PD James' novel) however is also not very clear. The film mixes government paranoia about illegal immigration with references to Islamic terrorism and the plot's central crisis of infertility, without providing any explanation to the links between them, but that could contribute to enhance the sense of chaos and disorientation. The power of the film is in the contrast between despair/chaos and hope in life. Particularly strong are the images of guns silenced by the sound of a crying baby. Hope is embodied by Kee and her baby, but also by other characters like the hippie played by Michael Caine.
Stars: ***/5