Children Of Men

The funny thing about Children of Men is that it isn't much of a science fiction film. The story is set in the future with a theoretical situation that would ask us large questions, but the structure of Children of Men has little to do with those questions. The film is more remiscient of stark social thrillers of the 1950s and 60s. The film I kept thinking about was Andrej Wadja's Kanal. That film was about soldiers using the sewers of a city to get to other end in a losing battle. The film is just about their dangerous travel. Children of Men is about Clive Own trying to get a pregnant woman through a war zone to a thing called The Humanity Project. The story zig zags with plot twists and unfortunate deaths, but the meat of the film is the long tracking shots of the brutal situations the characters have to get through. The film has little of a dramatic core but the production detail in the filmmaking is unbelievable. The fact there aren't many cuts really distinguishes everything that is accomplished. It makes everything that happens look more unbelievable and exhilarating. As far as emotional depth, I'm not sure. Two important characters are killed during the beginning half of the film and then another at the end. The film doesn't allow us to really get to know these characters. The meaning of Clive Owen and Julianne Moore's characters is mainly in their past and the film talks little about it so the film suffers from spoken dramatics instead of an organic dramatic core. The audience does get to know the baby in question, but the film shouldn't be taken to heart for the other unfortunate scenes. The story utilizes those scenes to pull the audience into the story. They are easy to pull off. The thrills in the story are more interesting.