One hell of a long shot

There is a scene in ‘Children of Men’ where, if I’m remembering correctly, Clive Owen wakes up after having a nap in a car with 4 other passengers (pay attention to that number, it’s important). He asks where they are, how long before they get there, and if there’s a hotel. That last part is a joke; he wants to get it on with Julianne Moore, who’s lovely, but no longer his girlfriend, but she still thinks fondly of him. They share a private joke involving a ping pong ball, and reminisce about old times, but they’re distracted by the impromptu roadblock; their car is under attack. Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is driving, pulls into full reverse as out from the woods around them emerge a screaming horde of attackers, throwing Molotov cocktails and bashing the windows with sticks. There is a motorcycle; the pillion rider shoots at the car, kills one of the passengers. Clive, ducking and panicking, opens his door and smashes the motorcycle away. They pull out of reverse and drive like hell. Then the police show up; and demand that they pull over. Chiwetel manages to evade arrest, they drive off into the horizon at full speed, and then the shot is over.

Read that last part again. I didn’t say ‘the scene is over,’ I said ‘the shot is over.’

That’s right. One Take.

There are 5 people in the car. One of them is a large woman who nearly takes up the entire back seat herself. Where the hell did they put the camera? How the crap does the camera leave the car, reenter, and how on god’s good earth did they manage to coordinate an entire freaking action scene in a moving vehicle in a single take?

Google tells me: The crew rode on the roof. The camera was made from a special rig. Some digital cleverness was used for some of the effects. But jesus christ on a freaking stick; it also tells me the scene was four minutes long.

There is another, more famous shot from the movie. Tanks. Guns. Hundreds of extras. Sixandahalffreakingminutes. An interview with the director (Alfonso Cuaron, of Prisoner of Azakaban fame) reveals that he hired a computer artist to digitally remove blood which had inadvertently splattered the lens halfway through the shot, and he quips ‘she must have hated us.’

You may or may not have heard of ‘Children of Men’. You may or may not have watched it. You should. Technical virtuoso aside, it’s an excellent film. It’s got Michael Caine in it. Why would you want to not watch a Michael Caine film?