By Steve Biodrowski

This is an astounding piece of work - easily one of the best films of 2006. Although set in the future, it incorporates images and plot elements that resonate with the contemporary world, touching on themes related to illegal immigration, terrorism, the war in Iraq, etc. The effect is unnerving and powerful, using the future as a mirror to the present in order to deal with dark and troubling truths that most contemporary films avoid. In its portrait of a future England under a fascist government, the film is in some ways slightly similar to the interesting V FOR VENDETTA, which dealt with similar themes, but CHILDREN OF MEN is even more successful in terms of dramatizing its political ideas, avoiding comic book violence in favor of a grittier, more believable hard-boiled tone, with echoes of film noir.

The film is set in 2027, at a time when no human babies have been born for eighteen years. With humanity inevitably dying out, the world has surrendered to despair, and despair has led to chaos around the world. A newscast tells us, somewhat condescendingly, "Only Britain soldiers on." The price of maintaining this stiff upper lip in the face of adversity seems to be a militaristic government that has declared all immigrants to be illegal and is systematically rounding them up for removal to refugee camps. The story follows Theo (Clive Owen), a burned out cynic in the classic Humphrey Bogart mode (think of CASABLANCA). Since a personal tragedy years ago, he is sleepwalking through life, believing in nothing, caring about nothing. Inevitably, he is dragged out of his stupor - in this case by his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), who is part of a terrorist organization called the "Fishes" that is fighting for equal rights for immigrants to smuggle a pregnant woman out of the country, so that she can join up with the Human Project, an organization trying to find a solution for the infertility problem. Complications arise when Julian's comrades decide they want the black woman's child for political purposes - a figurative "banner" under which they will foment a revolution. Theo and the mother must make their own way, avoiding both the terrorists and government forces (working on the assumption that the racist government would not want to acknowledge that the future of the human race depends on a black woman).

In effect, despite the science-fiction setting, this is an escape movie, and it plays out like a tense action-thriller. There are numerous nail-biting suspense sequences, many of them featuring explosive, edge-of-your-seat action, often captured in long, unedited camera takes that create a convincing sense of realism far removed from the typical Hollywood thriller formula. This is not a Schwarzenegger-saves-the-day movie; if one had to make a comparison, it might be closer to THE FRENCH CONNECTION.

The underlying intent, however, is not to simply thrill. Beneath the sound and fury of its aggressive - and stunning - action sequences, charts the rekindling of optimism in the world, as personified by Theo. What's at stake is nothing less than the survival of the human race, both physically and spiritually; with physical extinction no longer an inevitability, we see the soul of the world stirring again in Theo's eyes. Unfortunately, the physical survival of individuals is a small thing in comparison to that of the entire human race, and great sacrifices are required to ensure the safety of the mother and her child.

The formulation may sound depressing, especially in the context of the film's dreary, dystopian future, but in truth CHILDREN OF MEN is amazingly uplifting. The film is actually profound in its simplicity. The theme underlying the story is nothing less than Hope: what happens to us when we lose it, and how far individual people will go - and at what cost to themselves - to regain it? Within the context of a piece of speculative fiction, CHILDREN OF MEN offers answers that are as dramatic and moving - in fact, more so - than you will see in a dozen typical Oscar-bait movies.

The script (by multiple screenwriters, working from a novel by P.D. James) does an excellent job of infusing its message into the story, instead of stating it outright. Owen is excellent in the lead; it's hard to tell if he's really a gifted actor or simply someone with great movie star charisma whose good looks also suggest some kind of hidden depths beneath the surface; in either case, he works perfectly in the role of Theo. The rest of the cast is great too, particularly Michael Caine as Theo's friend, an aging pot-smoking radical who seems to have wandered in from a '60s film, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is properly fanatical as a terrorist while also providing an occasional glimmer of a soul.

The bleak future of CHILDREN OF MEN.

Technical credits are superb, with a moving mixture of soundtrack music that includes everything from Deep Purple's "Hush" to King Crimson's stunning epic "In the Court of the Crimson King." Orchestrating all of the elements, director Alfonso Cuaron turns in a film that is big and bold, with a vivid and convincing vision of the future that never overwhelms the human core of the story. This is the sort of film that sets the standard, becoming the yard stick by which subsequent efforts must be judged and - more often than not - found wanting.

THE THE COMPLETE REVIEW, INCLUDING BEHIND-THE-SCENES INFO, TRIVIA, AND DVD DETAILS, AT CINEFANTASTIQUE ONLINE.