dvd review: Children of Men

The pleasure of watching Children of Men on dvd is hitting the pause button and trying to examine everything that's going on in the background. "Production design is it's own character in this movie," says a producer in the film's bonus features. And she's exactly right. Through superb attention to detail, director Alfonso Cuaron has created an eerily believable future dystopia in which women are infertile, the earth is ravaged by nuclear war, and, according to a television commercial, "Only Britain soldiers on." As London grows more like a police state, terrorist bombings become a common occurrence and immigrants await deportation in refugee camps throughout the city.

Part of the reason this world feels so realistic is that it's set in the near future, the year 2027. But more than that, it's the way it resembles what a prosperous nation might actually look like if, 20 years from now, it lost all hope for a future. Cuaron's London is devoid of the technological inventiveness and ornamentation found in films like Blade Runner and Brazil. The cars, just slight updates of the ones we have now, are all dirty and rundown. The whole country wants for upkeep and no one is talking about it. The characters don't sit around rehashing the events of the past two decades because for them it's an accepted reality. Since the dialogue eschews any inessential exposition, the graffiti, newspaper headlines ("Bombing of Saudi Pipeline Disrupts World's Oil Supply"), and government propaganda ("Avoiding Fertility Tests Is A Crime") which fill the background become that much more important--or at least intriguing--in understanding this future and how it got that way.

If the film's setting is often hyper-detailed, the plot is relatively simple. Disgruntled everyman Theo (Clive Owen) trudges through his days in a London office, drinking and occasionally seeking respite in the country home of his friend Jasper (Michael Caine), an old hippie and ex-political cartoonist who grows weed and listens to hip-hop. Theo is jarred from his stupor when Julian (Julianne Moore), a former lover, draws him into the work of her activist (or is it terrorist?) group, the Fishes. Soon he's forced to protect Kee, a young pregnant woman and humanity's last hope, from the Fishes, who hope to use her as leverage in advancing their political agenda. The film's second half chronicles his travails in transporting Kee to a rendezvous point where she can meet a mythical group that allegedly possesses the resources to use her child to create new life.

Along with a few brief deleted scenes, the bonus DVD includes a featurette in which a panel of experts with titles like "Anti-Globalization Activist" speak ham-handedly about the perils of mass migration and global warming, some of which connects with the film's political themes. But ultimately the bonus features deliver because they shed light on the filming of the breathtaking action sequences shot in long takes. Some lasting upwards of four minutes, these amazingly choreographed bits bring you deepest into the film's world, occurring at turning points in the plot and heightening the suspense of the action by working in real time. Cuaron manages to span the full range of human emotion in one shot. After seeing the incredible rig used in creating the car chase--and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you must go rent this--the already stunning scene feels like a landmark achievement. The film's visuals impress more with each viewing.

As much as Cuaron's London is covered in crime, Children of Men is a highly polished film. It reminds that a big budget thriller needn't be mindless popcorn fodder, not when paired with a talented director and a clever script. Children of Men uses its resources to create a world that's as absorbing as it is repellent.