[DarwinMayflower]

Like I said before in the movie thread. I'm fucking pissed beyond belief that Canada is probably not going to see the light of day of this film. It's only playing in Toronto so it seems, but what's worst is my vacation to a larger city sort of expected this film to make an appearance in order appreciate visiting a bigger city.

[DarwinMayflower]

Well folks I finall saw it. And I must say it wasn't what I expected and yet it was what I expected. Now there's going to be a LOT of spoilers, so seriously if any of you are waiting to see this film when it's released on DVD, then I suggest you skip over this review becuase I'm not going to use any of the spoiler tags.

First I've like to address some of the complaints...mainly the thing about being off as most people might think. I share this sentiment because it's not exactly a grand slam home run, however I find it to be a great in-field home run. I think the thing that's a bit off is that there's a great disconnect of the audience with the characters. They do seem like placeholders in some respect and a lot of times you don't exactly have a great emotional connection to care for them. However I think that's part of the charm and part of the reality of the whole situation.

I now understand why people say it's such a great film in showing a potential future of the world or even showing the world how it is right now but only less agressive. But I think one of the strengths of the film is how dismal they paint the world in Children of Men. It's not sad in a boo-hoo way, but a sad in a pathetic way, sad in a hopeless way and sad in an angry way. You might not get a clear emotional connection with each character but I think that's the point of the film.

People are blunt, people are at wits end and polite society is crumbling before your very eyes. These are not witty lovable jerks like Captain Jack Sparrow or Tyler Durden. These are not masterful characters that have to command the stage and tell us to look at them...they are the lead character they command the attention. These are people who in one way or another lost all hope in living and yet they only live on for some empty reason. All of them are stripped down to their bare essentials with their core primal nature shown for us. And how each person expresses that lost of hope is each unique but much the same.

And that's what's so powerful about this film. It doesn't necessarily take any sides. The Human Project itself seems entirely objective to the world's problems and joining with any sort of group whether it be gov't or Fishers/Resistence/Militia is only a means to an end. Yet at the same time the film manages to show so many sides to humanity. Fanaticism, Gov't tyranny, racism, ignorance, egotistical, multi-culturalism, capitalism, politics, the evils of humans and the inherent good of humans. The list goes incredibly on and on.

It is quite amazing how we get to see so many sides in such a short time. There's a great sense of duality in all shapes and forms in the film. From the media paprazzi and world embracing Diego (the youngest man alive at the time; murdered) we get to see how sensationalized, superficial and useless it is to worship him when in reality he's just a beacon false hope. It's amazing how we never get exposition on Diego too much but following the most important rule of cinema...SHOW not tell. We understand from the get go how much people love Diego and yet for all the wrong reasons. The photograpy crowds trying to get his picture, people trying to get his autograph, Diego himself acting rudely to his so called fans we have a clear understanding from our own experience with tabloid trash tv how he's treated and what he represents.

And yet near the end when our baby gets born and is shown to the world for the first time there's a stark contrast than with Diego. The baby isn't a celebrity or some commodity as Syd so aptly put it; but it's hope. It's the shock of seeing a potential future in a world with no future. With Diego his smile only reflects how doomed society is with their own gluttony and problems, but with the baby...she represents not a reflection but a window into the future. The stark difference between being a child in a society far too superficial to their own good with all the best life has to offer and yet with humanity's problems bleeding through the gates that into the streets; and being a child born in a ghetto, a place of absolute hopelessness and in the middle of a warzone. A lot of people who say having a kid "changes everything" in this case it's very much true.

Another sense of duality is with Theo himself. When he visits his cousin, it's like looking into a mirror with only a child between them. This a subtle yet powerful symbolism that perhaps in some alternate timeline, it would be Theo who owns the aptly shown Picasso painting, Guernica, sipping on wine in great luxary. Had he not lost his own son, perhaps his own son would be famous enough to afford the chances at a luxorious lifestyle with Theo himself ignoring the problems of the world. Everyone deals with the fall of humanity different and while the gates are erected to keep the problems out, much like how Theo's cousin ignores it all; polite and upper crust society knows that in the end it isn't worth it. All they have left is reveling in what's left of their own superficial world like they did in the past but only now they realize how useless it is.

And that's what's great about this film, how hopeless and helpless it makes you feel. Even if you know about the final outcome of a film, even though it's entirely expected for the happy ending to come, there's just so much in the film that slowlly breaks down all your pre-conceived notions of what the typical cinematic storyline is. You begin to doubt that Theo and Kee would ever make to the end as betrayals, deaths of characters and just the sheer obstacles that face them erase any sort of hope. Even the final goal, the Human project is revealed to be more myth than reality later in the film. Cuaron wants to make you feel you're there, you're sharing the moment, you are with them in thier misery and suffering. If cinema is supposed to mimic reality, then this is as real as you can get without teleporting to that world itself.

The cinematography is just great. It's a very scenic film, but it works because it goes a long way to visually show how terrible the world is now. You see everything and it only makes the situation and plotline a lot more focused. No one actor is going to detract from the plotline. But those long shots that Cuaron is known for works in spades here.

The interior car scene, I'm still trying to figure out how they did that. But it's powerful. I love it because it doesn't guide the person through how Theo bests a pair of evil people on the motorbike. There's no close up shot of the door handle, you feel like a passenger and the move is registered almost after the fact but mimics reality just like that.

The climax of the film just makes it incredible by the sheer fact that it pulls no punches. You feel it's there and it only magnifies the sheer hopelessness of a situation. Rambo isn't going to come in to save the day, it's just human determination of Theo. Hope is so far away you can't even see it on the horizon and yet you're still sailing for it imagining where it'll be. That's great filmmaking there, the ability to take let the audience see the world for themselves and not to specfically show them. As mentioned in this quote:

[DarwinMayflower]