By Michael Belmont
Gargoyle senior editor
Posted Monday, Jan. 8, 2007, The OG, arts

DIRECTOR ALFONSO CUARÓN'S new film, “Children of Men,” is a masterpiece.

Set 20 years in the future, the story takes place in a world where many of our worst fears today have come true.

A massive flu pandemic has killed millions. It's implied that terrorists have used nuclear weapons to wipe out major cities, and the world is at war.

Government repression in England, the last civilized place on Earth, has reached a nightmarish level as undocumented immigrants are caged, beaten, deported, tortured, murdered.

On top of all the world's problems, and perhaps largely responsible for them, is the infertility of the entire human race. No babies have been born since 2009, and the youngest person on the planet, an 18-year-old, has just been killed.

Theodore Faron (played by Clive Owen), a former political activist, is a weary London bureaucrat waiting for the end when his former wife (Julianne Moore), now leader of a revolutionary terrorist group, asks him for a favor: A refugee has to be smuggled out of the country, and they need him to get the necessary travel papers.

But what begins as a straightforward task quickly becomes a nasty, desperate struggle, and Faron soon finds himself responsible for humanity's last glimmer of hope. The refugee, it turns out, is the first pregnant woman in 18 years.

As Faron and his charge, a Fuji woman named Kee, navigate through a country teetering on the edge of anarchy, they are helped, hindered, pursued, betrayed, and attacked by a dynamic host of superbly developed characters.

The plot twists are good, the cinematography is amazing, and the acting is strong, even though Claire-Hope Ashitey's performance as Kee falls a little flat.

The world that Cuarón, who directed “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” creates onscreen is so bleak that the audience is forced to share the characters' sense of hopelessness. At least global warming doesn't seem to have struck too badly.

The movie does present a farfetched depiction of 2027, but that's how it derives its enormous power. And with today's leaders, you never know what's possible. How many people four years ago envisioned the Iraq of 2007? Some of what's going on in the movie's world may not make much sense to some, but then again how many of today's real international headlines do?

Viewers are never given a precise explanation of what is causing humankind's infertility. This would be bad if “Children of Men” were a science-fiction film, but it's not, and the specifics are beside the point.

The premise of infertility is an artistic tool that conveys the movie's most positive message. It gives all the characters, even the ones who are fighting each other to the death in the film's hardcore battle scenes, an opportunity to realize the basic humanity that links us all, even if that only stops the gunfire for a little while.

“I forgot how beautiful they are,” one of the most ruthless characters whimpers in the climactic scene, referring to Kee's newborn child.

I don't know if “Children of Men” is one of the best movies ever made, but it's definitely one of the best I've ever seen. With a total runtime of an hour and 49 minutes, it's also one of a rare breed of Oscar-caliber films that isn't too long.

When the real 2027 comes along, people will be able to look back at this film and remember the uncertainties and anxieties that trouble us now. With any luck, they'll be able to smile as they do so.

“Children of Men” is now playing at the Savoy 16 (click here for times) and Beverly Cinema 18 (click here for times). Runtime: 109 minutes. Rated: R.

RELATED

— The film's official site