Children of Men (2006) * 1/2

Directed by:  Alfonso Cuaron

Starring:  Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Clare-Hope Ashitay

The world of Children of Men is a bleak one.    It is 2027.   The human race faces eventual extinction because humans can no longer reproduce.     No person has reproduced in 18 years and CNN grimly reports the death of  "the world's youngest human", who was just 18.    Other cities and countries have crumbled, while Britain remains the only semblance of civilized society left despite being a police state.     Everything has an Orwellian feel to it.    The grayness and emptiness is straight out of Michael Radford's adaptation of Nineteen Eighty Four (1985).

Until the actual plot kicks in, Children of Men depicts an eerie, doomed world.    Theo Faron (Owen) is a microcosm of the apathy that engulfs society.    The coffee shop where he buys his daily morning coffee blows up moments after he leaves.     It is tough to say what bothered Theo more: the explosion or that he wasn't in it.    The nation is on the brink of civil war between the government and revolutionaries.    This will not be the last violence anyone will see.   

Theo is soon contacted by his former lover Julian (Moore), with whom he had lost a child.   Their mutual pain is apparent with every word they speak.    She is now with the resistance and asks Theo to help protect a young woman named Kee (Ashitay), the world's first pregnant woman in 18 years.    This is where Children of Men steps wrongly into peculiar territory.    The movie does not make it clear why a pregnant woman, who should be seen as a beacon of hope that humans may not go extinct, is a threat and needs to be protected.     She is seen as a potential pawn in the ongoing war between the government and the resistance, but how would she be one?    Is the movie trying to say that the government, despite imposing a police state, wouldn't welcome living proof that humankind's days aren't necessarily numbered?     You would think the first pregnant woman in 18 years wouldn't have to be smuggled out of Britain.

Owen provides Children of Men with a satisfactory hero.    He changes from being an apathetic loner to a father figure who protects Kee at all costs.     It doesn't occur to him or anybody else in the movie that he shouldn't have to protect her at all.    If you consider the worldwide grief people express over the lost of the 18-year old, then how would Kee not be the most welcome story on Earth?     Maybe there was an explanation as to why Kee needed to escape Britain, but I missed it.    The resistance also has designs on the child, but it is unclear why.  

Cuaron is technically well done and sets up an intriguing, albeit bleak future.    Then the story kicks in with its puzzling lack of clarity and all is lost.     We know the whole story about the pregnant woman, but why hasn't anyone tracked down the father?    Is Kee meant to be a virgin Mary and her pregnancy is the result of a virgin birth?     If that were the case, then Kee would be even more of a celebrity, no?    Who in their right mind would want to hurt her?    Once I figure that out, then maybe I can enjoy Children of Men more.