Did anyone notice the fact the Theo never carried a gun throughout the film? I don't think he even picked one up. A pleasant change from what a standard action film would have done. I also liked what Curazon did with Theo's shoes to sabotage any classic hero images, the films full of cool little touches like that.
I think that was one of my favorite aspects of the movie. I loved how Cuaron very carefully built up a rivalry between Theo and Luke, and a secondary rivalry between Theo and the henchman with the blonde dreadlocks, what in any traditional action movie would have been resolved in the standard climactic fight sequences. Instead, in the end, both Luke and the other revolutionaries, and the armed conflict in general, are basically sidelined as irrelevant, marginal, and pathetic.
One thing that did amuse me - during one scene with bullets flying Theo attempts to huddle for cover in a corner with some fugees - they make noises of complaint of the kind you might expect on a crowded tube train, which prompts Theo to instinctively pull back and search for somewhere else to hide from the bullets while mumbling 'I'm sorry'.
It just rang true for me...
What really got me about that was that Clive Owen totally acted like people act when they know they've committed a faux pas, not just when you've bumped into someone on the subway but when you've bumped into someone on the subway and it's obvious to everyone, including yourself, that it's your fault. Which, to me, implied that there was some sort of accepted unspoken ettiquette about finding cover when people are shooting at you in this society.
And again, when the group hid in the abandonded primary school, I began to fully realise the implications of a childless society.
Yeah, that hit me, too.
We're but a week into 2007 and already this movie is in clear running for best movie of the year.
It was released in 2006, though it was only in limited release in the US until Jan 5.
the one that got to me the most was the midwife being pulled off the bus and getting this abu ghraib treatment.
I loved how there were so many scenes like this and with the fugees that made such strong statements about our current political situation without saying (verbally) anything about them.
I love that that whole thing was shot in such an understated manner. The midwife takes the fall to distract the guard from Kee in labor, scene goes on, we see a quick shot of her getting hooded and the bus rolls on. We know what happened, and the horror is just unspeakable, but there were no dramatic lingering reaction shots or anything like that. Just "boom!" and she's gone and no one talks about her again. Perfectly chilling and totally effective. |
