Children of Men

Filmmakers have embedded their political views in their work from the birth of the industry (e.g., The Birth of a Nation) and director Alfonso Cuaron, along with his writing partner Timothy Sexton, use this 2006 movie as vehicle that asks viewers to think about the potentially calamitous effects of human activities on ourselves and our home. While the plot may be overly complex, the question asked is brash and unmistakable.

In Children of Men, Cuaron and Sexton (along with P.D. James, who wrote the 1992 source novel) ask, what if some of the chemicals we use, biological agents with which we experiment and thoughtless sexual activities we pursue combine to eradicate human fertility? Destroy it so completely that by 2027, the year in which the movie is set, no child has been born for more than 18 years and, despite worldwide quests for cause and cure, no one is remotely close to an answer. Indeed, Children opens with the suicide of Diego, that last baby born, who simply cannot handle a level of media attention that dwarfs what we see given to Britney, Paris and JLo.

A miracle is needed and perhaps that’s what’s happened. Theo Faron (Clive Owens), a UK bureaucrat, is kidnapped right off a city street, only to find that his abductor is his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore). Emotional bond intact despite 20 years having passed–they split up over the death of their baby son–Theo agrees to help her underground/terrorist group move a woman past internal security. First he agrees to do it for a money but after finding out the woman, in the country illegally, is pregnant (our miracle) Theo is driven to complete the mission.

Julian’s group has its own internal conflict, though, which surfaces immediately after the three (plus the girl’s midwife) get out into the countryside. Chiwitel Ejiofor, always excellent, plays the leader of a militant faction, Luke, but Theo, paranoid and suspicious of everyone, acts quickly to get pregnant Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) out of harm’s way. They run to his parent’s hidden rural home (the unrepentant hippy dad is Michael Caine), conveniently nearby, and then to a coastal refugee camp from where they hope to connect with a semi-mythical hospital ship run by the Human Project (humanity’s last, best hope?).

It’s all rough and tumble from here. Luke and his men have hardly given up, tracking them to Caine’s place and then the camp. The refugee camp is hardly a summer holiday all on its own, especially since they feel the need to hide Kee’s nearly baked state. Plenty of action and turbulence right up until the last frame keep our protagonists’ fate in doubt and no attempt to answer the bigger question is (smartly) ever made.

PR and advertising for Children position the film as a 21st century compliment to Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s 1982 masterpiece adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s post-apocalyptic distopian thriller, a reasonable proposition. The film is visually all dreary shades of grey, with England as rainy as Seattle, a hero dragged against his will into life and death skullduggery and no-longer wanted immigrants updating cybernetic replicants.

The biggest negative for me in this movie is what feels like unnecessary plot complications in the form of Luke’s faction. Given the anti-government tone of the opening scenes (manifested by brutal treatment of the refugees), I would have continued with them as the opposition throughout. Second, the overwhelming amount of gun play and explosions. Last is the minimal screen time for Ms. Moore, contrary to what the publicity leads us to expect. Where I might rate Blade Runner a 4 (out of five), the best I can do for Children of Men is a 3.

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