My England Stolen by Fascists

I promised a while back to post my thoughts on Children of Men, so here goes.

Bad things first. The film has lost some of the strongest elements from the original P.D. James book. Gone is Xan Lyppiat and with him the concept of Warden of England, the clever depiction of loss of separation of powers and even the forced ‘Quietus’ culls of the elderly. The entirely logical depiction in the book of ‘Sojourners’ has vanished to be replaced by the illogical ‘Gees’ (short for refugees). For the film to work you have to accept the nonsense that with all the problems an aging population and no new generation coming through brings, a nation would focus all of its political energy on tackling the problem of illegal immigrants who are actually capable and willing to work.

However, the reason why Alfonso Cuarón has gone for such a flawed, irrational plot device soon becomes clear. Whilst Children of Men is a film dealing with the idea of a world where humanity can no longer procreate, Cuarón has used this sci-fi future as a means of looking at current Western attitudes to immigration. This is not a film to watch if you are the type of prick who believes the answer to everything is to: ‘Send them back where they came from’.

Children of Men had a powerful effect on me. It put me into shock. Part of this was the way Emmanuel Lubezki captured the battle scenes. The small details of tragedy, the chaos of collapse, chickens on the stairs, the way dust billows from a wall when hit by a bullet – every element made me feel as if I was in Drniš during the Yugoslav Wars of Disintegration.

Part of the impact was emotional. The pervading sense of loss and the absence of hope brought tears to my eyes at times. On top of this, seeing such a grimly realistic portrayal of my England stolen by fascists – Bexhill remade as a ghetto, South London under martial law – hit some of my major future fear clusters. England decayed, rotting and convulsing with the frightening spasms of approaching death is not easy to watch if you love your homeland.

As a thriller it works. It has twists, it has shocks. As an action movie it works. The chases, fights and battle scenes are coldly convincing. As an exercise in cinematography and direction it is taut, bleakly beautiful and ludicrously atmospheric. Yet the thing that really makes the film is the acting. Almost everyone brings the emotional core of their character to life. Clive Owen should be an Oscar contender for his portrayal of the journey Theo makes from a man without hope to a man fighting for the future. The support from Michael Caine, (a wonderful turn as mentor and hippy Jasper), Julianne Moore, Pam Ferris, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Claire-Hope Ashitey is superb.

The soundtrack is also excellent. Anything that mixes John Taverner with Jarvis Cocker and the Rolling Stones’ Ruby Tuesday scores big points in my book, but the elegiac, powerfully spiritual sound so typical of Taverner brings a cathartic quality to the score I considered truly amazing.

In the nutshell – one of few excellent films I have seen this year, even if it did make me shake, cry and have the odd flashback nightmare.