CHILDREN OF MEN

Children of Men was included in my 2023 Film Journey because I had heard of the impressive long takes used to film most of the movie. I was not disappointed. This is a magnificent blend of great story, outstanding acting, and extremely well-thought-out and executed camera work. I would venture to say that visually this film is a masterclass in filmmaking.

Children of Men was released in 2006 and is set in the future dystopia of a 2027 United Kingdom. This is a future we can identify with because it is not full of sci-fi gadgetry or vehicles, it’s more a world utilizing slightly enhanced computer technology we already know, to maintain the way civilization works at this time. And the status quo is one where humans have found themselves unable to procreate. How this mass infertility happened is unknown, but as of 2027, the last human birth on the planet occurred in 2009. Civilization is breaking down all over the world because economies are collapsing from the lack of younger workforces and the prospect of human extinction. The United Kingdom is one of the last nations still functioning. As a result, it is being overridden with refugees from all over. The UK has become a police state with its influx of refugees (referred to as “fugees”) being imprisoned or executed. Director Alfonso Cuaron creates this reality by using an extremely muted and dull palette that wonderfully conveys the overall pallor of despair.

Theo (Clive Owen) is a former activist who has settled for living as a government worker. He is kidnapped by the “Fishes”, an activist group assisting refugees that is run by his estranged wife, Julian (Julianne Moore). The Fishes need his help assisting a young refugee woman named Kee (Clare-Hope Ashity) with obtaining transit papers to get out of the city. Theo reluctantly agrees to assist them, only later learning of Kee’s true importance. She’s pregnant. She is the first known woman to be pregnant in over 18 years. Julian explains how imperative it is that Kee make it out of the United Kingdom to an organization known as the Human Project, a group dedicated to overcoming the world’s infertility. The alternative is that other factions will attempt to use the baby as a political pawn. Assisting Theo and Julian along the way is Jasper, an old friend of Theo who lives off the grid. Jasper is a free-spirit hippy type of intellectual played by Michael Caine in a performance that is a delightful departure from the roles he normally portrays.

The story is ultimately one of hope as Theo works to reclaim a sense of humanity he lost years earlier when his own child passed away. The movie is laced with Christian overtones and as noted previously, shot through many extremely impressive long takes. The lack of many cutaway shots leads the viewer to feel fully immersed in what is transpiring. Director Cuaron knows how to make the most of every angle and lighting opportunity, and his ability to “reveal” is just as evident in the background as it is in the foreground. Children of Men is spectacular. The only other film directed by Cuaron that I’ve seen is Gravity. I’m now extremely anxious to take on more.