Children of Men

"The last one to die please turn out the light"

Everyone was very excited when Alfonso Cuarón jumped into the director’s chair for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Personally, I wasn’t overwhelmed by his take on the HP universe, although for many Azkaban is their favourite Potter flick.

After seeing Children of Men though, I have new respect for Cuarón. Based on the novel by P.D James, Children of Men is set 20 years in the future, when the human race has been mysteriously infertile for the past 18 or so years. With the rest of the world plunged into civil unrest, England alone soldiers on. Literally. England has become a police state in which illegal immigrants (fleeing to the UK from world conflict) are rounded up and placed in brutal camps, and terrorist groups like the Fishes are resisting government control.

This is a world where schools are deserted, and women collect little porcelain baby ornaments. Commercially advertised suicide pills are available and socially acceptable, while religious conservatism has surged in the belief that mankind’s infertility is God’s punishment.

While buses and billboards feature dynamic, digital advertising (I loved reading the messages), the cities and technology like cars are beginning to look very run down. This makes sense if you consider that in 100 years, humanity will be gone. In this situation, why bother caring about protection of the future?

The film’s basic storyline centres on former political activist, now disillusioned government employee, Theo (Clive Owen), who finds himself roped into protecting a young woman, Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), the first human pregnant in over 18 years.


Fans of city-based dystopian future books and films, like 1984, Brazil, V for Vendetta and Equilibrium, even 28 Days Later, will really enjoy Children of Men. Well, if you can enjoy these kind of bleak movies. Children of Men is frightening in the credibility of its world. At the same time though, the film contains quite a few touching and humorous moments.

The film is essentially a chase movie, as Theo attempts to get Kee to safety, away from The Fishes, who want to use the baby for political gains. But Children Of Men also contains some of the best onscreen depictions of urban combat I’ve ever seen – I’d even go as far as to say better than Blackhawk Down, in terms of unexpected punch. Who knew Cuarón was such a good, suspenseful, action director?

What also really works in the film is the casting. Until I saw Closer, I always thought Clive Owen was quite wooden, but that movie, Croupier, and Children of Men reveal how good a performer he actually is. Owen perfectly and credibly captures the transition from disinterest to protective urgency, and he is supported by a number of realistically depicted do-gooder characters, including Michael Caine’s old hippie, Jasper, Pam Ferris’s midwife, Miriam, and resistance leader Julian, played by Julianne Moore.

Children of Men is definitely one of the better, more memorable, and thought-provoking films of 2006. It opens in the United States in late December.