"Children of Men"/"Temptation of wolves"

[alexandral]

I watched “Children of Men” from trailer_spot’s recommendation and keep returning to it in my thoughts already for two weeks. In a way, this film turned my world upside down. If you haven’t seen it yet – this is definitely must-see of this winter.

Synopsis In the future world where women lost the ability to bare children, Theodore Faron (Clive Owen) is helping a woman pregnant with child to find a safe place. The story takes place in England 2027 where any emigration is illegal and where anyone who is an illegal immigrant is put into immigration camps, no much better then concentration camps.

Director and cinematography Mexican-born director Alfonso Cuarón is known for his adaptation of “Harry Porter and the Prizoner of Askaban”. It is difficult for me to judge because I have never read any of “Harry Porter” books, but this is my favourite out of the Harry Porter movies so far.
His latest film, “Children of Men” is filmed in experimental and very unusual way. This includes innovative camera angles and amazing feel for colour and composition. The film starts as autumnal story of dying and decay, but towards the end this mood changes for something new. One of the final scenes of street-battle was filmed in one take with the clever use of pyrothecnics and this gives it a goose-bumps inducing feel of something happening before your very eyes, and this feeling followed me through the whole film , it felt like this is really happening. The other interesting thing was to convey information with objects and composition as well as with the dialogue.



Review

This film is a free adaptation of P.D.James novel “The Children of Men”, but it is a film of its own. One of the things that practically “jump at you” when you watch this film is that “Children of Men” encompasses many Biblical elements. This is everywhere – in the title, in the birth of a special child, in the long journey through the wilderness, in the crossing of the sea and in the similarity of long years of bareness with the prophecies that “the Earth will be barren”.

Is this to be our future? The future we are making ourselves with our own hands by exploiting our planet?

But the thing that affected me the most, even more then fabulous cinematography or brilliant acting (especially in Clive Owen’s part) was the honest and even brutal way of looking at the xenophobia and racism problem. I don’t know the situation in the other countries from the first hand, but in England of recent years the immigration issue has risen into being something of HUGE proportions. You can’t help but see the articles in the certain type of press where immigrants and asylum-seekers are presented as a threat to Britain, as some people who just come in millions to poor UK to consume our tax resources. Take me right, I don’t think that free emigration is the answer to everyone’s problem, but at the same time I find this way of thinking “they are here to rob us” to be really terrible and unfair. And I am glad that “Children of Men” makes us look what is an extreme point of the fear of emigrants, the way our country can go.

Screencaps from the film

























Soundtrack Is just out of this world. My favourite is Italian singer Franco Battiato’s take of “Ruby Tuesday”. One of the strange facts I found while looking for Ruby Tuesday’s lyrics is that this song was one of the songs that were forbidden to broadcast in US during the period following 11 of September 2001. I don’t understand why, I must say!!

"Temptation of Wolves"
I have also watched Korean film "Temptation of Wolves" and didn't like it very much at all. My thoughts on it are Here, in dorama_chat

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I think it is connected with the fact that 11/09 was Tuesday and that "Ruby" can be read as "bloody", though this doesn't make much sense at all.

I must watch this movie, I'm curious and excited about it, and Clive Owen is one of the best actors out there, I think!

Oh,yes!!!!!

[teh-haley.livejournal.com]

You said right, okay, it was tuesday but it was no-sense to avoid broadcasting it. People worry a lot about senseless stuff, sometimes, when there'd be so many real problems. Meh.
I'm persuading Luca to bring me to the cinema next weel to see Children Of Men ;)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I don't think Luca can resist your pulling power. The only thing I must warn you about - there is some violence in this film.