Children of Men: A Review

     Although viewing a film before reading the book it is based on is usually a huge deterrent for me, when watching Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, I did not have the usual feeling of confusion, or plain distaste. The film, although very open-ended, was made in a way where the viewer knows what is going on, but also has to put many pieces together for him or herself.

    For example, one has to wonder how the society became that way, in which no child had been born for 18 years. Possibly even how people could turn so cruel, as the soldiers were with the immigrants. 

    Starring Clive Owen as main character, Theo, this film takes a very disturbing, dystopic look at society in the year 2027, in which no child had been born for 18 years. This is really quite disconcerting, viewing the film in 2011, during which in Theo’s society, infertility would have become a huge issue already. This is not even close to the only problem in the society. Britain has an overload of immigrants that it doesn’t want, and the officers in charge of removing them from the country are not exactly gentle in their removal methods; the immigrants are ghettoized and being treated even worse than animals, and executions are more than alluded to.

      The country is seen in disrepair, and is filled with people pelting trains and other vehicles with rocks and garbage. Generally, not the place a person would want to live unless they are much higher up in the society.

      Theo is known to be a past activist, but his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore) is still very much involved in her activism, being the leader of an antigovernment group, and enlists Theo’s help in getting an immigrant, Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) out of the country. The girl is found out to be aptly named, as the viewer will soon find out. 

     The acting in the film is remarkable, with Owen presenting at first a character who seemed to have given up that evolves into a man who can smash a brick onto another person’s head. The passion of what the characters are fighting through can also be seen through a midwife  Miriam (Pam Ferris), who shows her passion for what the society needs repeatedly throughout the film. Owen, Ferris and Ashitey, who command a high percentage of the film, work great as a team, with some humour, drama, and an awesome amount of action, to get Ashitey’s Kee to her destination. 

     The set design played a very important part in the film. When Theo, Kee and Miriam are in the deserted school, it is a huge eye-opener to the viewer of what the society is truly like. To see a school like that in today’s society would be truly disturbing, because schools are always imagined to be filled with the chattering of children, not old rubbish. In addition, the ghettos that the immigrants lived in seemed to resemble the layouts of ghettos seen throughout history, with very small sections blocked off that contained many people. This is just another disturbing scene that showed how terrible the society had actually become. 

    Director Alfonso Cuaron was truly a genius with the film, managing to fit despair, empathy, action, explosions and hope into one great film. 

     The film also follows what seems to be a classic dystopian ending: there are many things resolved, and the viewer finds out a lot more about society, but as it is in interrupting any story midway through, there really isn’t a clear end. Sure, the characters moved forward, but there are deaths, revelations, and resolutions on the way that all lead to a very open-ended finish. So, if open endings are not your thing, or you like to see the main characters walk into the sunset together, then do not watch this film. If, however, you like watching an intellectually stimulating movie, filled with good acting and an ending that leaves something to the imagination, then this is definitely a film to watch! For being such a thought provoking film, it is deserving of an 8.5/10. 

V for Vendetta: A Voracious, Vivacious, Visual Experience

V for Vendetta is not a movie for the weak of heart. There is violence, action and a lot of questionable morals. The factor that really moves this film though, is the fine line that it makes between who is good and who is evil, and what the words actually mean.

The movie, set in a dystopic society in Britain, follows the story of a girl, Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman), whose life was greatly effected by the government regime, under dictator Adam Sutler (John Hurt). Her parents, political activists, were “black bagged” and her brother was killed in a biological warfare attack that was later to be discovered to have been caused by the government itself. This of course isn’t found out until later, following Eric Finch (Stephen Rea), as he discovers just how cruel and flawed his government truly is. His journey also allows the viewer to fill in the pieces of who the “terrorist” V (Hugo Weaving) is, and why he is doing what he is. Now V may not indeed be the terrorist that the government sees him as, nor does he come off as entirely innocent. Victim of a government project gone wrong, V sets out to be the monster that was made out of him, through the multiple murders he commits; some on people who deserve it, but also causing the murders of many who did not. The journey taken by the viewer to come to these realizations. 

Portman is shown as putting all of her heart into the film, making huge sacrifices that many other actors would not have made. Her dedication was shown through the shaving of her hair, which obviously had to be done in one take. However, Weaving also did not have the easiest job either. As he was hidden behind a mask for the entirety of the film, it was especially difficult to present emotions that his character was feeling. Weaving did a great job of doing this through the tone of voice that he used as well as his body language. Although Portman and Weaving were certainly the stars of show, that does not diminish the acing of the others at all. Rea does a great job of displaying his character’s confusion, and epiphany into what the society is really alike. Without him, the viewer would not know so much about V and what the government is actually doing. He takes the viewer on his trip, slowly putting the pieces together in order for us to understand what is going on as well. And not to forget John Hurt, who played dictator Adam Sutler so well that you would think he had an actual hatred for V, and the manic, passion-filled, religious fueled belief that so many dictators have.  

The film had the perfect amount of action to keep the viewer entertained, but also many touching and quieter scenes to keep the viewer informed and privy to the emotions of the characters. Director James McTeigue does an excellent job in this fine balancing act, and certainly deserves acknowledgement for this difficult task.

In closing, V for Vendetta is a definite recommendation for anyone interested in action, death and revenge. And for those of you who like a happy ending, this is definitely not the movie for you!