Our Own Future in Children of Men
Julianne Arnstein
Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 1/5/07, U.S., U.K., and Japan)(2) came out in 2007, and although it is set in the future it is a warning about the effects of our actions today. The film has a huge message on illegal immigration, a continuing theme on human decency, and subtle hints about destroying the environment. But the ultimate message is to always have hope. The last scene of the film (a shot below) conveys a tear-jerking message: if the world has nothing else, there is always hope.
The film is set in 2027 London and the surrounding area, a bleak and grungy future. Women have not been getting pregnant for 18 years and the human race will become extinct, which may not be a bad thing since everyone lives in a violent and terrible world. “The film focuses on the reaction of individuals and societies to the unexpected reproductive crisis.” (1) Theo, the main character, is led to a girl who is very pregnant. He is to take her to a group called “The Human Project” who will protect her and the baby. There is constant danger in reaching this goal; when the baby is born and cannot be hidden very easily some people want to take it as a commodity and others are in awe that it is around. It is the valiant soldiers, as seen in the picture, who are in amazement but briefly remember to cease fire.
Children of Men is a science fiction film because it is set in the future and there is a fictional scientific problem in the future: all women not being able to have children. We know it is the future not from spaceships or digital decorations, but mostly from the actions of the military. There is a combination of Holocaust, Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib actions against illegal immigrants, who are the main target of oppression. In the scene below, immigrants are in cages, being tortured by standing up (as we have recently seen from Abu Ghraib), forced to strip naked and receive a hard “shower”, and some are lying dead on the ground. After this scene the immigrants are taken to a large city where they will live, like a new age Jewish Ghetto. By mixing the past of the Holocaust and the present of Guantanamo Bay, the film obviously wants to say that these things can and will happen again. All it takes is a panic over a human problem, in this case illegal immigration. It is strange that the military is spending all its resources on the illegal immigration problem when they know the human race is at an end because of infertility; they are focusing on the wrong issue.
Children of Men is based on the book The Children of Men by P.D. James. The synopsis is pretty much the same as the movie, except all men are sterile, not the women, and the youngest people are 25, not 18. (3) Alfonso Cuaron has also directed A Little Princess, Great Expectations, Y tu mama tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and a piece in Paris, je t’aime. (2) I would say that is pretty varied. There is a kid’s film, a poorly rated Dickens remake, a sexy film, one Harry Potter film, and a short film. I am not really sure how Cuaron wound up with Children of Men or what his other film experience has to do with his style. Other films that came out around the same time and may remind us of the film are V for Vendetta (McTeigue, 3/17/06, U.S., U.K., and Germany), where a Nazi-type government is compared to our fear of George W. Bush making all of our political decisions for us; Doomsday (Marshall, 3/14/08, U.K., U.S., S. Africa, and Germany), where a disaster is threatening the human race in the future; and 28 Days Later (Boyle, 6/27/03, U.K.), where most humans have become super zombies and a small, healthy group is trying to get to safety. (2)
Although the film was made with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, and by Universal Pictures, it actually was not really a Hollywood picture. It was premiered at the Venice Film Festival. (2) The style of the film is unique and different, a mark of the “independent” style. The camera angles and well-known shot lengths are completely off the beaten path. There is a shot, and a clip below, that is more than ten minutes long, no cuts. Blood is spattered on the camera and remains there for the duration of the shot, as shown below. This is a very unique choice considering the scene: there were many people involved, lots of violence, and constant movement down the rocky street. For a scene like this most films would cut in typical places. A long shot might be given to a calm film for a scene where someone gives a speech. But the shot would not be way over ten minutes. If you ever talk to anyone about Children of Men this scene will come up. It puts you more in the film and the suspense level increases immensely.
Works Cited
(1) Hsu, Jeremy. “Reel Science: Children of Men.” Scienceline. (2007) http://scienceline.org/2007/02/21/reel-science-children-of-men/
(2) http://www.imdb.com/
(3) http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Children-of-Men/PD-James/e/9780307275431/?itm=1
Images: Children of Men. Dir. Alfonso Cuaron. Perf. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine. 2007. DVD. Universal Pictures, 2007.
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