Children of Men

As many of you might know, the new Science Fiction movie, ‘Gravity’ has been making huge waves in cinema lately, wooing both audiences and critics worldwide. In India, the movie seems to be in IMAX only till now. Now people, I’m not saying that I’m unwilling to pay for a good movie, but an investment of that amount requires insurance, and hence, I saw Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron’s first English masterpiece). Long story short, I’ve booked my tickets for Gravity.

Children of Men is a 2006 science fiction thriller drama that starts off in 2027 Britain. I cannot review this movie without spoilers, there are sonnets that can be written about the last scenes. Interested parties, you have been warned. The movie shows us a future in chaos, where, for a reason which the movie does not choose to explain, women have become infertile and the whole world except Britain is in a state of disarray. (Fat Chance!) So, refugees are flooding England and the British government is now forced to put refugees in camps without proper living conditions. The refugees form a protest group demanding equal rights and recruit the lead character of this movie for a top secret assignment. The assignment being, the safe transportation of a woman, who, miraculously, is pregnant. (These are not spoilers, I’m just giving you the description of the trailer. Shocked? You should be.)

The first thing that attracted me about the movie was the realism of it all. Mostly, with science fiction movies set in the future, directors tend to hype things up a little too much and show us an era of flying cars and holographic messaging and cloning, all of which seem a little far-fetched as compared to actual reality. Consider Blade Runner, a movie which told us, that flying cars, humanoid armies etc. would be a reality by November 2019. It’s 2013, I don’t see that happening in the next few years. The view taken by Alfonso Cuaron is much more realistic, albeit haunting. The dark tinge in the movie adds more to the gloom of the script.

Secondly, the camera work of the movie makes it even more shocking than it already is. The feeling of shock you got after watching the 9/11 attacks for the first time is exactly what you feel here. For instance, there is scene when our lead character is in a car with 2 other women. They’re all driving, playing fun little games on the way. A happy sight, perhaps a message from the director that even within gloom and certain extinction on their hands, humans will find a way to stay happy. Without a warning, a burning car, comes on the road and the mood changes within milliseconds as tons of protesters start chasing their car with bricks in their hands. It happens as quickly as it would happen in real life perhaps and is thus, highly shocking. The movie is filled with scenes like these and although the description may say that the scenes are jump scares, they’re not put in place as a gimmick. Kudos director, for amazing camera work.

Thirdly, there was a scene right at the end of the movie when the government comes to destroy the refugee camps and an all-out war breaks out. The scenes reminded me of Saving Private Ryan a lot. The way the scenes were shot and the realism of the blasts justify the comparison. But where the movie really stood out was when a baby, born after almost 18 years on earth starts to cry and everyone drops their weapons in shock. The lead actor and the mother escape with the baby with stares from everyone in shock and disbelief. As soon as they leave, fighting resumes. I personally think the scene was a larger comment on humanity. There could be tons of interpretations of the scene. Put in a box though, the scene is very, very powerful and should definitely leave an impact on anyone who chooses to see the deeper meaning in movies.

The movie’s ending is ambiguous and the onus of interpretation is left on the viewer. I think anyone’s interpretation of the film will depend on his/her belief in the power of ‘hope’. The movie leaves you with something to think upon for hours on end. In that sense, it is potent.

Perhaps the only gripe I had with the movie was the fact that it left us with too many details to be filled on our own. If one views it as ‘science fiction’, which it claims itself to be, there are plenty of questionable twists in the movie. Easy links whose justification the movie did not choose to provide. I would love to see a director’s cut of the movie where all of those scenes might be included. However, that is a problem with almost every second movie ever made.

Final Verdict: This is a movie which I did not review while watching. Transporting me to another dimension altogether, with gritty realistic direction and camera work, it left me in awe. If this is what Alfonso Cuaron has done with Gravity, it should definitely be a treat to watch.

8.7/10

(It felt a little cheap to make this review light hearted. I think I owed it to this movie.)