Short Take: Children of Men

“Very odd what happens in a world without children’s voices.” A character says this about midway through director Alfonso Cuarón’s spectacularly realized dystopian thriller Children of Men. What happens is the world goes mad. The film is set in the England of 2027, 18 years after the last infant has been born. Much of the planet has been devastated by war, and England is one of the few places that still maintains some level of peace and order. As a result, it’s become a destination for refugees from around the world. The country's response is draconian. It is now more or less under martial law, and the chief responsibility of the ubiquitous soldiers is to round up the never-ending flood of immigrants. Pockets of the citizenry have gravitated to the false hopes of revolutionary groups and religious cults. Most, though, are like the film’s protagonist, Theo Faron (Clive Owen): just blankly going through the motions of jobs that don’t seem to matter anymore. But one day Theo’s ex-wife (Julianne Moore) turns up seeking his help in getting a transit visa to the seashore. Before long, he’s caught up in an effort to get the first pregnant woman in 18 years (Clare Hope-Ashitey) to safety outside the country. This context is the stage for one of the most gripping adventure films ever made. Cuarón’s vision of the future is bleak, but the details are so suggestively presented that one always wants to know more about the world he presents. The key action set pieces, particularly the effort to locate the young mother in a besieged seaside town, are so breathtaking they leave one in awe. Owen’s role--the embittered cynic who becomes a heroic man of action--is a bit of a cliché, but he plays it with conviction, nuance, and considerable charisma. Emmanuel Lubezki provided the bravura cinematography. The extraordinarily detailed production design and set decoration are by Jim Clay, Geoffrey Kirkland, and Jennifer Williams. The script, based loosely on the novel by P. D. James, is credited to Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby.