I can’t help feeling disappointed about Children of Men. I’d heard plenty of good things about it before I saw it. Not hype, but by people I know and whose taste is pretty similar to mine. Yet, the film just didn’t work for me.
Yes, it talked openly about the torture a government may use when under pressure - even to the extent of inserting tableaus reminiscent of the infamous Abu Ghraib pictures. Yes, it showed civilization collapsing in stupidity, terror and infighting. However, it all seems too constructed and moralizing. The film is overly symbolic and politically correct. The protagonist - Theo - meets dogs that never like anyone, but they like him. A cute, little kitten immediately climbs up his leg, and so forth. And of course it’s a black woman who carries the child and last hope of mankind.
The plot never rises above the immediately predictable, and all the political points are mired deep in clichéd conventions and never really becomes critical of anything. All of this is really a crying shame for the film has so much going for it: Clive Owen is excellent as Theo and Cuaron’s visual style is beautiful.
Long takes with beautifully conceived pans that work extremely well, wonderful material quality to the world of the film, and a high-information environment in terms of the way it creates the world. Much like Blade Runner, Children of Men creates its world by the visual design of its environments. Posters, graffitti, commercials and so on reveal more about the world than is ever explicated by the characters, and this is a good strategy as it provides a much more realistic sense of the world.
Unfortunately, the tired story works poorly, and contrasted with the very successful Prisoner of Azkaban, I can’t help but feel that a wonderful opportunity was lost.
