DVD review: Children of Men

By Glenn Abel

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Director Alfonso Cuaron has two remarkable films on the "Children of Men" DVD, released Tuesday in North America -- the dystopian feature and a startling half-hour documentary that explores the macro-global issues raised by the movie.

"The Possibility of Hope" documentary doesn't have much hope in it. Cuaron rounds up a half-dozen philosophers and futurists who see overpopulation, economic repression and global warming sending the planet into a new dark age. These guys make Al Gore look like a shiny-eyed optimist.

"It's not a matter of people surviving," says scientist and philosopher James Lovelock. "It's a matter of civilization surviving. . . . It can easily degenerate into a dark age again. It's quite possible that will happen."

"I wouldn't say human extinction," writer-activist Naomi Klein says of global warming. "But a genocidal (outcome)."

The short is an unusual made-for-DVD extra because it doesn't exist to promote the film or exploit its thinkers' big-headline conclusions. This is grad-school territory, where the first reference is to Hegel's metaphysics. The topic is no less than the fate of the human race.

The downtrodden future always seems to elude filmmakers, but many have tried, including the mighty Stanley Kubrick ("A Clockwork Orange"). Few of the films feel plausible, probably because the filmmakers over-amped their visions. "Children of Men" succeeds by Cuaron's insistence that all scenes from his year 2027 "show me the reference in real life." The movie -- about a world where women have mysteriously become infertile -- was one of the best of last year, overlooked at the Oscars. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine star.

"Children of Men" looks suitably grim on Universal's single-disc release, with the grit, grain and grays of the film all intact. The 1.85 widescreen images are enhanced for 16x9 monitors. (There is also a full-screen version.) The front-centered audio is Dolby 5.1 only.

Other extras include an analysis of the film by philosopher Slavoj Zizek, who calls it, curiously, a remake of "Y tu mama tambien"; a trio of deleted scenes, including one in which Owen and Danny Huston wander nonchalantly among the great artworks of the lost civilization; a discussion of Cuaron's technique of long, "incredibly choreographed takes"; and a special-effects study of the film's miracle baby.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter