Film Review: Children of Men (2006)
Ha! Ha! Ha! Begini ini kalo lagi kurang kerjaan.
One of the article at Variety stated, questioned the fact that the Academy members had overlooked Children of Men. Especially the innovative technique deployed by its director, a Mexican director, Alfonso Cuaron.
Now, i dont know anything about this innovativeness. But i had suspected that it has something to do with those long shots. This film had many long shots. Examples are, including but not limited to. During the opening scene, the bombing of a Cafe where our hero, Theo (Clive Owen) had previously bought a cup of coffee from. Midway through the film, a scene where the car used by our heroes to escape got ambushed. But ultimately, the last long shot, a nine-minute seemingly one-take shot of a battle scene right at the climax. It was a great shot, and the result of a great achievement by director Alfonso Cuaron and his long-time cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki. And when the Academy announced its Oscar nominees, people start to wonder where was the acknowledgement that has been due to both Children of Men and Alfonso Cuaron. I mean, this film has received many rave positive reviews around the globe, and scored an astonishing 91% positive reviews at RottenTomatoes (as a pale comparison, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest only scored around 50%). I loved this film by the way, loved its particularly dark atmosphere, its grim ending, and its overall structure. Surely it deserves a better acknowledgement.
Well, enough with crap, on with the review.
In 2027, the world had lost its hope. Nuclear war had destroyed many civilizations around the world, pollution had grew so dense, that most of the surface of the world become inhabitable, but more prominently, since 2009, the female had suffered infertility that prohibited human being to regenerate, thus facing with the possibility of extinction. The film begin with the global mourning over "Baby" Diego, the very last human to born. As in 2027, he was 18 years old.
Theo Faron (Clive Owen) was an everyday working man in a grim Great Britain, who had turned into a now-Iraq. And just like everybody else, he has lost the hope to live (evident by his indifference when the bombing of the cafe he just walked in not 3 minutes ago took place). A suicide pill, Quietus, were sold for free (with catchy tagline - 'you decide when') and further proofed the loss of hope human being had suffered in that time.
In Great Britain, the last state still in some sort of 'order', the everlasting bickering between the government and the rebels left the state in such dis-order and constant firing (and bombing). The leader of this rebels, who actually only wished to support the equal-right for the immigrants trying to enter the Great Britain, Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore) wished Theo to escort a young immigrant girl, Kee (Claire Hope-Ashitey) through the immigration checkpoints, through the battlezone, and finally through the border where some sort of scientists called themselves "The Human Project" wait to extract the young Kee. Kee was probably the one and only pregnant woman at the time.
I've heard many of the comments regarding this film that questioned the 'plot-holes' in this film. Such as, how come the female infertility ever happened? what happened to those other country beside Great Britain? why does the rebels meant to keep Kee's baby to themselves? why does the bickering between the army and the rebels rage on? who and what was "The Human Project"? I'd say that the answer to those questions were irrelevant. This film doesn't deal with the cause and effect of the dystopian future. This film was about Theo's journey. And that's it. It begins with Theo, and it ends with Theo. None other things mattered.
Being a semi sci-fi film, however, this film dealt with the (dystopian) future in a relatively relaxed manner. Even with a heavy issue regarding the human extinction, this film never falls itself to a self-important socially politically preaching drama. Like i said, it's a simple personal journey, and add that with deft actions and neat directing.
This year has seen all three Mexican directors with all three beautiful movies. Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu with his Babel, Alfonso Cuaron with his Children of Men, and of course, my #1 film of the year 2006, Guillermo del Toro with his Pan's Labyrinth. If i want to dream, when would i could say the same thing about Indonesian filmmakers?
One of the article at Variety stated, questioned the fact that the Academy members had overlooked Children of Men. Especially the innovative technique deployed by its director, a Mexican director, Alfonso Cuaron.
Now, i dont know anything about this innovativeness. But i had suspected that it has something to do with those long shots. This film had many long shots. Examples are, including but not limited to. During the opening scene, the bombing of a Cafe where our hero, Theo (Clive Owen) had previously bought a cup of coffee from. Midway through the film, a scene where the car used by our heroes to escape got ambushed. But ultimately, the last long shot, a nine-minute seemingly one-take shot of a battle scene right at the climax. It was a great shot, and the result of a great achievement by director Alfonso Cuaron and his long-time cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki. And when the Academy announced its Oscar nominees, people start to wonder where was the acknowledgement that has been due to both Children of Men and Alfonso Cuaron. I mean, this film has received many rave positive reviews around the globe, and scored an astonishing 91% positive reviews at RottenTomatoes (as a pale comparison, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest only scored around 50%). I loved this film by the way, loved its particularly dark atmosphere, its grim ending, and its overall structure. Surely it deserves a better acknowledgement.
Well, enough with crap, on with the review.
In 2027, the world had lost its hope. Nuclear war had destroyed many civilizations around the world, pollution had grew so dense, that most of the surface of the world become inhabitable, but more prominently, since 2009, the female had suffered infertility that prohibited human being to regenerate, thus facing with the possibility of extinction. The film begin with the global mourning over "Baby" Diego, the very last human to born. As in 2027, he was 18 years old.
Theo Faron (Clive Owen) was an everyday working man in a grim Great Britain, who had turned into a now-Iraq. And just like everybody else, he has lost the hope to live (evident by his indifference when the bombing of the cafe he just walked in not 3 minutes ago took place). A suicide pill, Quietus, were sold for free (with catchy tagline - 'you decide when') and further proofed the loss of hope human being had suffered in that time.
In Great Britain, the last state still in some sort of 'order', the everlasting bickering between the government and the rebels left the state in such dis-order and constant firing (and bombing). The leader of this rebels, who actually only wished to support the equal-right for the immigrants trying to enter the Great Britain, Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore) wished Theo to escort a young immigrant girl, Kee (Claire Hope-Ashitey) through the immigration checkpoints, through the battlezone, and finally through the border where some sort of scientists called themselves "The Human Project" wait to extract the young Kee. Kee was probably the one and only pregnant woman at the time.
I've heard many of the comments regarding this film that questioned the 'plot-holes' in this film. Such as, how come the female infertility ever happened? what happened to those other country beside Great Britain? why does the rebels meant to keep Kee's baby to themselves? why does the bickering between the army and the rebels rage on? who and what was "The Human Project"? I'd say that the answer to those questions were irrelevant. This film doesn't deal with the cause and effect of the dystopian future. This film was about Theo's journey. And that's it. It begins with Theo, and it ends with Theo. None other things mattered.
Being a semi sci-fi film, however, this film dealt with the (dystopian) future in a relatively relaxed manner. Even with a heavy issue regarding the human extinction, this film never falls itself to a self-important socially politically preaching drama. Like i said, it's a simple personal journey, and add that with deft actions and neat directing.
This year has seen all three Mexican directors with all three beautiful movies. Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu with his Babel, Alfonso Cuaron with his Children of Men, and of course, my #1 film of the year 2006, Guillermo del Toro with his Pan's Labyrinth. If i want to dream, when would i could say the same thing about Indonesian filmmakers?
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