CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)

In a nightmarish, ultra right-wing Britain, the populace of the nation have just been informed of the death of the youngest person on the planet; an 18 year old man from Argentina known as 'baby' Diego. Since his birth no woman has conceived and no babies have been born, leaving many to speculate that the human race has lost the ability to reproduce forever. Facing imminent extinction, mankind has begun to admirably speed up the process, with nations in the East and Africa collapsing, and America fragmenting as a result of constant civil war and terrorism, leaving Britain standing alone as the last imagined bastion of civilisation. As a result, the British government has taken up arms and closed its borders, brutally expelling or ghettoising ethnic minorities and non-UK citizens in concentration camps whilst pounding the bulldog mentality into it's populace via propaganda.

The state of the nation looks incredibly grim before new hope is born with the revelation that a young immigrant called Marichka (Oana Pellea) is pregnant. From here, a desperate struggle begins to transport her to the safety of a sanctuary ship anchored off the southern coast of England, and unwittingly cast as her protector is the peace activist-turned bureaucrat (don't they all go that way?), Theodore Faron (Clive Owen). Reluctantly cast as her shepard by 'terrorist' cell leader and ex-wife Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore), Faron is charged with guiding Marichka past the marauding countryside gangs and the thuggish police officers on every street corner. During the harrowing journey the pair escape execution at the hands of terrorists, infiltrate a concentration camp and finally find themselves trapped in a street battle as the child is delivered.
From beginning to end, Children of Men depicts a harrowing and worryingly prescient glimpse of a very realistic future, in a manner akin to that of 1984 or, more recently, the flawed yet decent V For Vendetta. It seamlessly ties in various facets from several storylines such as the above, but for me, there was a direct comparison to the incredible PC game Half Life 2 (minus the aliens and monsters of course), especially towards the end as Faron finds himself a hunted man in the midst of a pseudo revolution. Indeed, even the layout of some of the sets seemed very much like the City 17 that fans of Gordon Freeman's ultra violent escapades will know and love, lending the movie, for me at least, a very familiar feel.

Of course, there's alot more to this one than simple violence; it's a very gritty, often satirical, tough and political film, which, despite benefiting from its cast of big names, feels close enough to the edge to seem more like a independent production. Total credit is due to those responsible for putting it together; as a film fan it's often a little unnerving to watch an old classic whilst harboring the feeling that: "They don't make movies like this anymore!" This isn't the case with Children of Men however, as it centers solely on dramatic, dirty realism, with not a hint of CGI in sight. There's also nothing but extreme admiration here for the way the movie has been shot and edited; a director with Cuarón's perceived clout (especially after overseeing the likes of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban or Great Expectations) probably had the opportunity to make this into as shiny, clean, mainstream-friendly production, but instead he's opted to make an uncompromising and challenging piece of cinema.
Really, it's that damn good; towards the end there's one fifteen (ish) minute sequence featuring Faron and his charge running through war torn streets and then taking refuge in a building which is being shelled. The whole scene is shot with one take on one camera (in a manner similar to the incredible opening of Johnnie To's Breaking News), with the lens becoming splattered with blood and dirt; truly excellent stuff. And on a personal note, it was superb to see a friend of mine on the big screen, briefly appearing to steal the shoes off a dead body towards the end of the movie, the filthy little scrounger! In closing then, this is a fine movie, and certainly the best production made in the Western hemisphere by a long shot this year.