Children of Men
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Bleak futuristic political thriller in which a mysterious infertility has stopped the birth of babies, and a disillusioned London bureaucrat (an excellent Clive Owen) races to carry the world's only pregnant woman (Clare-Hope Ashitey) to safety, while dodging refugee terrorists, the authorities, explosions and bullets at every turn. Director Alfonso Cuaron's adaptation of a P.D. James novel is intentionally dark and disturbing, if exciting in its chase sequences, and though the first-rate cast includes Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor and more, some appearances are virtual cameos. The somber palette and relentlessly downbeat milieu may not be for every taste, though some may discern biblical parallels in the "miraculous" birth of the child. Pervasive rough and crude language and some mild profanity, crude expressions, heavy but not graphic violence including explosions and shootings, a childbirth sequence, brief partial nudity and drug use. L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (R) 2006
"Children of Men" (Universal) is a bleak futuristic political thriller with pointed parallels to the present day.
A mysterious infertility has halted the birth of babies, and a disillusioned London bureaucrat, Theo (an excellent Clive Owen), races to carry the world's only pregnant woman, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), to safety, while dodging refugee terrorists, the authorities, explosions and bullets at every turn.
Director Alfonso Cuaron's adaptation of P.D. James' novel is intentionally dark and disturbing. But the chase sequences are undeniably exciting and quite brilliantly done, and it is in those sequences that the film is most compelling.
Though the first-rate cast includes Julianne Moore as Julian, the head of the dissident group known as the Fish (and who years before had a child with Theo in his activist days); Chiwetel Ejiofor as Luke, one of her henchmen; and Michael Caine as Jasper, a sort of aging hippie old friend of Theo, some of these roles can best be described as cameos. (Moore, for instance, gets bumped off quicker than Janet Leigh in "Psycho.")
The somber palette and relentlessly downbeat dystopian milieu may not be for every taste, though some may discern biblical parallels in Kee's giving birth to "the miracle the whole world's waiting for," as Jasper describes it.
The film contains pervasive rough and crude language and some mild profanity, crude expressions, heavy but not graphic violence including explosions and shootings, a childbirth sequence, brief partial nudity and drug use. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.