Children of Men by Marc Abraham; Eric Newman; Hilary Shor; Iain Smith; Tony Smith; Alfonso Cuarón; Timothy J. Sexton; David Arata; Mark Fergus; Hawk Ostby Review by: Michael Joshua Rowin Cinéaste, Vol. 32, No. 2 (SPRING 2007), pp. 60-61 Published by: Cineaste Publishers, Inc Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41690478 . Accessed: 08/09/2014 23:30 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Cineaste Publishers, Inc is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Cinéaste. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 150.207.145.65 on Mon, 8 Sep 2014 23:30:07 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions (albeit,largely unelaborated) of his fictional obtaintransit papers for a youngblack Children of Men world'schaotic state and ofthe worldwide refugee,Kee (Claire-HopeAshitey). Self- imminentextinction Producedby Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, infertilitythreatening interestedTheo does so (his and Julian's ofthe human while to each other HilaryShor, lain Smith, and Tony Smith; race, reflectingback attractionto hasn'tdissipated, theaudience its own and the evenafter the loss of theirchild and the writtenby Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. gaze initiating film's aesthetic the take. oftheir Sexton,David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk prime strategy, long breakup marriage),joining Julian, Evenwhen not shotsof rebelLuke and Ostby;directed by Alfonso Cuarón; based on using noticeably (ChiwetelEjiofor), Kee, theP.D. James novel Children ofMen; lengthyduration, Cuarón and cinematogra- Kee's caretaker, Miriam (Pam Ferris), along EmmanuelLubezki; pherEmmanuel Lubezki (renowned for his fora carride to thecoast where Kee will be cinematographyby workon TerrenceMalick's The New off.But the - andin the editedby Alfonso Cuarón and Alex Rodriguez; World) dropped along way Jim and displayin long shots a detailedmise-en-scène film's first major set piece,the one that productiondesign by Clay Geoffrey to rivalthe lived-in of Blade is Kirkland;costume Tenine; vivid, quality makesit clearChildren of Men something designby Jany Runner- bleakruin and urban - music JohnTavener; Clive chaos,the outof the ordinary the crew gets ambushed by original by starring streets and multitudinousterrorist-looters who a Owen,Julianne Moore, plaguedby terrorism, protesters, push Claire-HopeAshitey, and in thecar's and set andMichael Caine. Color, 109 mins. A religiousfanatics, patrolledby police burningvehicle path UniversalPictures release. throwinginto detainment camps all illegal upon it withrocks, Molotov cocktails, immigrantswho've escaped destroyed coun- motorcycles,and guns. The sequence is shot Whiledeparting from the majority of triesto seekrefuge ("Only Britain Soldiers in one continuoustake that flawlessly navi- contemporaryaction movies in itsunique On" blaresa publicservice announcement gates within the confines of thecar (and, styleand blatant political leanings, Children warningcitizens against harboring refugees). towardthe shot's conclusion, outside it) to ofMen might be theexemplary post-9/11 Theo'sbrush with death barely changes capturechaos at jiistthe right moments, a filmfor its genre.For hereis a veritable his outlook. As a disillusionedformer panopticalsurvey with action occurring on pieceof mass entertainment, one providing activistand presentgovernment bureaucrat multipleplanes and oftendisappearing thevicarious rush of action, adventure, and he has,like the world around him, given up beyondthe scope of the lens. heroismessential for drawing the large audi- hopein the future. He looksforward only to Duringthis staging of the most intricate enceit and an extremelynervous Universal hissojourns to therustic, hidden neohippie cinematicchoreography, Julian is shotand Pictures(which, according torumors, dumped compoundof best friend and politicalcar- killed,a dramaticblow to Theo.The sur- whatthey assumed to be an uncommercialtoonist Jasper (Michael Caine) - together vivorsescape the police and find safe haven filmduring the annual December/January they alleviate their troubles by smoking pot at a Fishmember's farm. There Kee reveals firesale) obviously covet; and yet here is also and makingdark jokes about thehellish toTheo the reason for her illegal transporta- a filmthrowing the concept of the vicarious reality(government-approved suicide kits, tion- she'spregnant. The Fishes want to get rushinto doubt to suchan extentthat it forone) in whichthey live. Things change herto theHuman Project, a rumoredorga- shiftsthe very boundaries which once more forTheo, however, when he getsabducted nizationof the world's best scientists dedi- clearlydemarked the separation of realism bya groupcalled the Fishes, quasipeaceful catedto understandingand remedyingthe andheroism, political iconography and fan- undergroundrebels (most bombings, we world'sgreatest mystery. But the Fishes also tasticalmythology. These tensions at the learn,are actuallyperpetrated by the gov- havedesigns to useher impending baby as a centerof Childrenof Men, directed by Y Tu ernmentand blamed on thisfaction to fos- 'flag'to rallythe dispossessed around their Mamá Tambiénand HarryPotter and the ter fearand reinforcesupport for the cause,an opportunisticmove Theo finds Prisonerof Azkaban s AlfonsoCuarón, are authorities- a directallusion to paranoia suspicious.Later that evening Theo overhears a directlyrelated to its very different represen- concerningthe causes of 9/11) that demand conversationbetween new Fish leader Luke tation of violent spectacle. Venturing fullrights for immigrants. The Fishes are led andPatric (Charlie Hunnam) - theambush beyondconventional entertainment and byTheo's ex- wife Julian (Julianne Moore), wasa set-upand coup, meant to moveLuke intothe realm of simulated reportage, Chil- whoasks - or,rather, bribes - thedivorced intopower and allowthem to use Kee and drenof Men employs stunning verisimilitude husband she hasn't seen for twenty years to herchild. Knowing their livelihoods are in withinits mise- en- scène, raising the stakes of danger,Theo, to whomKee hasplaced her intenseaction and at thesame time, inten- unconditionaltrust, leads the pregnant girl tionallyor not, questioning exactly what it is and Miriamout of thefarm in a thrilling audiencesseek in thesedisplays. It's a pro- scenenot as pronouncedas thepreceding found,unsettling amalgam expressing the setpiece but nonetheless intensely suspenseful. crisisof and for relevant entertainment a lit- Theremainder of the film plays out as a tlemore than five years after the events of race againsttime to meetthe brazenly September11 havealtered American view- namedTomorrow ship that will bring Kee ers'relationship toon-screen catastrophe. andher baby, born in transit, to the Human Childrenof Mens openingscene func- Project.Cuarón's reliance on theintegrity of tionsas expositionand statementof intent: theshot rather than the impact of the cut, in a Londoncafé, in theyear 2027, a group however,applies a differentlook and feel to of dazedviewers glance up at a television standardaction-movie fare, and his allu- monitorbroadcasting breaking news of the sionsto the Holocaust,Abu Ghraib,the deathof the world's youngest person, "Baby GuantanamoBay detainment camp, Middle Diego," eighteenyears old. Theo (Clive East riots,and ThirdWorld conditions Owen)moves through the crowd, orders a complicatethe notion of the film as easily coffee,and, after a cutback from the TV digestibleproduct. The film'sclimax and screen,walks outside in an unbrokenshot. A piècede résistancetakes place in a walledcity fewyards down the street he adjuststhe lid fordetained refugees that Theo and Kee of his papercup, and withoutwarning a haveclandestinely entered in orderto ren- bombdestroys the café he hadjust exited; a dezvouswith the ship. Fascistic police prac- survivorstumbles out of the wreckage tices,ghetto chaos, and burntbodies greet screamingand missinga limb. In this Theo(Clive Owen) is recruitedfor a truly theirarrival. As in theopening's logistical momentCuarón establishesthe cause humanitarianmission in Children ofMen. attentionto thedecline of civilization, the 60 CINEASTE,Spring 2007 This content downloaded from 150.207.145.65 on Mon, 8 Sep 2014 23:30:07 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions closingchapter unflinchingly portrays the horrorand squalorof institutional oppres- sion,from bombed out tenementsto dog- eat-dogsurvival tactics. When Theo and Kee escapethe city during the throes of an all- out war agitatedby 'liberating'Fishes, Cuarónand Lubezki once again display their commitmentto sequentiallong takes that maintainTheo and Kee as themain points ofinterest but often refuse to privilegethem overthe anarchy unfolding around them. Centralcharacters die likeextras, with the entirescene - and,most unforgettably, the slaughterof refugees- pointing to theexis- tenceof such atrocities beyond the space of themovie theater. In herclassic essay "The Imagination of Disaster,"Susan Sontag characterized the contemporaneous(Fifties and Sixties)sci- ence-fictionfilm as dealingin "the aesthetics ofdestruction" by which "one can partici- patein thefantasy