Stephi and I watched "Children of Men" last night, and I'm still mulling over it and thinking it through, which almost always is the deciding factor of whether or not I like a movie or not, actually: If a movie makes me think, regardless of what its message is, I like it.

Children of Men made me think, but it also drew me into its world and stole my breath, especially with its three LONG action shots which are each single takes. It's hard to describe what it feels like to watch a single car chase scene where the camera not once cuts to a different perspective, but the whole scene is a 4 minute long, fluid, intense piece. But the shot that was most incredible was the 9 minute long - yes, 9 minute long - take of Clive Owen making his way through a war zone, into a building where bombs and shells are exploding everywhere, up some stairs with refugees everywhere, then back out through the war zone and into a building. The whole thing is intense and you just don't get a second's rest, because the camera never gives you that rest: It's a single continuous shot. At first I thought this had to be multiple shots and they simply used CGI to stitch them together, but then I read this article. They actually prepared and practiced the choreography and explosions for that 10 minute scene for 12 of their 14 allotted shooting days at that spot, then would try to shoot the whole thing in one take - any time anything went wrong, they had to reset everything and it took 5 hours, and then they'd try again. And they actually made it on their last try! Just amazing stuff...now I'm just really disappointed and confused at why in the world Pan's Labyrinth (an excellent movie itself BTW) got the cinematography Oscar over Children of Men. What in the world? Children of Men is in a league of its own when it comes to cinematography, it should have been a no-brainer.

I found that war zone scene on YouTube by the way...

NOTE #1: PLEASE don't watch this if you haven't seen the movie and think you may yet. The whole movie is set up in a way that it builds up to this incredible 10-minute climax. To watch this scene by itself pretty much ruins the effect. I link this only for those who've already seen the movie or think they won't anyways.

NOTE #2: This scene is quite intense and violent (like the rest of the movie), so don't watch this if you're not comfortable with intense scenes.

OK, here it is.

The symbolism behind Children of Men is also very interesting, here's an excerpt from the excellent Wikipedia article on the movie:

According to Cuarón, the title of P.D. James' book (The Children of Men) is a Catholic allegory derived from a passage of scripture in the Bible.[33] (Psalm 90(89):3 of the KJV: "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men."[34]) James refers to her story as a "Christian fable"[20] while Cuarón describes it as "almost like a look at Christianity": "I didn't want to shy away from the spiritual archetypes," Cuarón told Filmmaker Magazine. "But I wasn't interested in dealing with Dogma."[6] The audience swims through an ocean of Christian symbolism, where British terrorists named "Fishes" protect the rights of fugees.[35] Opening on Christmas Day in the United States, critics compared the characters of Theo and Kee with Joseph and Mary, calling the film a "modern-day [36]Nativity story".[37] To highlight these spiritual themes, Cuarón commissioned a 15-minute piece by British composer John Tavener, an Orthodox Christian whose work resonates with the themes of "motherhood, birth, rebirth, and redemption in the eyes of God." Calling his score a "musical and spiritual reaction to Alfonso's film", snippets of Tavener's "Fragments of a Prayer" contain lyrics in Latin, German and Sanskrit sung by a mezzo-soprano. Words like "mata" (mother), "pahi mam" (protect me), "avatara" (saviour), and "alleluia" appear throughout the film.

Now, on the one hand, the movie is incredibly depressing and dark - the world basically has no future whatsoever since everyone is infertile. But this is not a "Sin City" where hope is not to be found anywhere whatsoever, rather the movie centers on the hope of humanity in the miraculously pregnant girl Kee who is protected by the main character Theo (whose name means God). And to be honest, this resonates with me a lot.

So, all in all, I give this movie a 14. For those who don't know my rating system (it's been quite a while since I've rated a movie), that means I think it's worth 14 Euros to see this movie.