The big debate about this film is whether or not it is the "first blaxploitation film". I don't have strong opinions about the label or the timeline of the genre. If I was forced to place this DVD on a shelf at Blockbuster I would probably put it on the blaxploitation shelf, but having watched the movie, I wouldn't consider it a part of that genre.

The movie that I kept thinking of while watching this film was a favorite…

World building. This is what I take away from CHILDREN OF MEN. Alfonso Cuaron did such an amazing job of developing the world in which these characters live, that it is hard to think of them anywhere else, even though they are not that far removed from the world we live in now. I'm not a huge fan of BLADE RUNNER, but Ridley Scott did the same thing there.

Of course this film is visually stunning, if not a bit…

DDL brought to life one of cinema's most memorable characters, horrifying and sympathetic.

Johnny Greenwood created a complex, neurotic, and mesmerizing score.

Robert Elswit shot a film rich in texture, specific in pallet, and gorgeous beyond belief.

Dylan Tichenor cut a film in a way that could have told the story simply through edits.

PTA wrote a script that is obtuse and defiant. It is dense, yet accessible. Its a period piece / character study/ parable / cautionary tale /…