Children of Men

My delightful husband recently discovered the magic of Ebay. I mean, he always knew it existed, but he just connected to it on a personal level. Sort of like being born again. His new philosophy: Why rent a movie when you can bid on it for only $1?

Which is why we now own the charming Clives Owens/Julianne Moore film Children of Men.

I'm using the term charming very loosely.

It was suspenseful, the lighting and costumes did a great job a creating an awful-looking place, and I got drawn into the story. Oh, and Kee (one of the female leads) has a killer sense of humor. The whole thing is almost worth watching just for several cracks that she makes.

But when the movie ended, I was left with a lot of questions.

Spoilers follow...don't read if you don't want to know...

For example: What happened to the world? Why is Britain a haven for refugees? Apparently it has something to do with everyone being infertile, but I never caught a clear explanation.

Also, what's the relationship between all these characters? Who the heck is Jasper? What's the deal with his wife? Are they Theo's parents? Why did Theo and Julian break up? Is it because of Dylan? Some details--like the pingpong ball bit between Theo and Julian--hint at well-developed characters, but fleshed out relationships would help even more.

I realize that information like this isn't really necessary for the furthering of the plot, but I think it would be helpful stuff to know, especially in framing the situation of Theo (Clive Owens) and Julian (Julianne Moore).

Another irritation (not so much a question) is that several key plot points are glossed over in hushed voices speaking rapidly in British accents. The whole after-hours boss meeting at the Fish headquarters that Theo overhears was completely unintelligible to me. Not cool, especially since it sets up the motivation for the rest of the film.

I also think there are several loose ends that they filmmakers could have done more with. Throughout the film, Theo is shown as having a certain appeal to animals, so much so that it seems like it will be significant. So, you start paying attention to the animals. Are they leading Theo somewhere? Are they going to betray him? And then....nothing. By following through on things like this, the movie could have been made richer.

But, my biggest beef with the movie is this: Why can't humanity reproduce anymore? It's the question that we're teased with throughout the entire movie, with hints that the mysterious Human Project will be able to provide an answer. And when Kee gets on the Human Project ship at the end of the movie, we think "finally! we'll get some answers!" Nope. No clue. No idea whether Kee's baby is a fluke, whether there will be more children, or whether Theo, Julian, and countless others have died in vain. Children of Men has set itself up to be a powerful social critique of something, but even at the end, I'm not sure what that is. Certain things--the Abu Ghraib hoods, the clippings against Iraq, the refugee situation, etc., indirectly critique the current US administration, but that critique could have been made much stronger and more interesting if we had gotten some clue at the end of the movie as to why this all was going on. By avoiding the question altogether, the movie doesn't risk looking trite or cliche, but by not taking any risks, it also loses the chance at really saying something.