Children of Men

Children of Men
File:Children Of Men 3.jpg Children of Men poster
Directed by	Alfonso Cuarón
Written by	P.D. James (novel) Alfonso Cuarón Timothy J. Sexton David Arata Mark Fergus Hawk Ostby (screenplay)
Starring	Clive Owen Julianne Moore Michael Caine
Cinematography	Emmanuel Lubezki
Music by	John Tavener
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	2006-09-22 (UK) 2006-12-25 (USA, limited release) 2007-01-05 (USA wide release)
Country	UK
Language	English
Budget	$80 million

Children of Men is a 2006 dystopian thriller film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, loosely adapted from P.D. James's 1992 novel The Children of Men. The film depicts a bleak world in which no human child has been born for 18 years, human extinction looms, and violence reigns. The plot centers on Great Britain, which has become a police state. This film is rated 15 in the United Kingdom and R in the United States for strong violence, language, some drug use, and brief nudity.

The cast includes Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Caine.

Plot

Backstory

The film is set in London in the year 2027, in a world where no child has been born since 2009. For an unknown reason, the entire human female population of the planet has become infertile. Scientists are at a loss to explain why and cannot solve the problem. The last aging generation of the human race has lost hope for the future and human societies have fallen apart. Old newspapers hint at devastating events which have occurred within the last twenty years.

The film opens with the whole world mourning the death of the youngest human being, "Baby" Diego Ricardo, aged 18, the last child born successfully. Lengthy wars, some of them fought with nuclear arms have destroyed much of the planet; Africa has been devastated by a nuclear war and Kazakhstan has been rendered uninhabitable by Russian nuclear attacks. Global pollution levels have soared and have caused irreparable damage to the environment. Major cities such as New York, Geneva, Moscow and Tokyo have been wrecked by acts of nuclear terrorism. There is also reference to a siege in Seattle. As a result of these combined catastrophes, waves of refugees descend upon any habitable countries.

As a consequence of the ongoing global catastrophes, infertility, civil breakdown, and endless terrorism, governments across the planet have lost control of their populations. By 2027, Great Britain is a semi-totalitarian government, with a distinct resemblance to another dystopian England, that of George Orwell's 1984, holding back millions of desperate refugees, who are demonized by the "BCC", the flagship of British media, which constantly reminds its population: "The world has collapsed. Only Britain soldiers on". The government acts as a brutal police state to keep Britain free of refugees; all foreigners are illegal immigrants and subject to deportation or sent to a number of internment camps, where refugees are stripped of personal belongings, tortured, executed or left to their own devices in what appear to be shantytowns where every vice flourishes.

Despite these harsh policies, Britain is on the verge of collapse. Outside the drab, polluted cities, the countryside is in chaos; trains and cars travelling between towns are regularly attacked by terrorists known as "The Fishes", while in the cities, public areas are bombed by either the same terrorists or the British government, seeking to gain public support for its harsh policies. Other factions include ultra-nationalists supporting the government, foreign terrorist organizations, and religious groups claiming that human infertility is God's punishment for sin.

In the cities, people try to live normal lives, despite the increasing decay as the last nation on Earth gradually dies off. Fertility testing is compulsory. Widespread apathy and depression has prompted the government to distribute anti-depressants as a part of rations. A suicide drug is sold over-the-counter under the brand name "Quietus" (the marketing slogan is "Quietus — you decide when."). The British media is controlled by ultra-nationalist, state-owned broadcasting channels - Radio Albion soothes listeners with music from the carefree, pre-catastrophe years of the early twenty-first century, while the state television network reminds viewers of the fate of the rest of the world and encourages viewers to report all illegal immigrants, regardless of family connections, ostensibly to keep the country safe.

Plot synopsis

The film opens on 16 November 2027 with the protagonist, Theo Faron (Clive Owen), buying coffee in a quasi-Starbucks called Caf fine where everyone is watching news reports about Baby Diego's death. Baby Diego was reported stabbed to death by a disgruntled fan. Faron, a former political activist now working as a bureaucrat at the Ministry of Energy, appears numb and indifferent to the news. A minute or so after his leaving the shop, a bomb explodes inside, killing most or all of the very human and ordinary people just seen watching the news. Theo is unhurt. Government news channels blame this attack on "The Fishes", an underground terrorist group claiming to be fighting against the inhumane treatment of immigrants.

Shaken by the bombing, Theo visits his friend, Jasper (Michael Caine), a former political cartoonist who now lives in the countryside with his wife, another former reporter now in a semi catatonic state. Newspaper clippings on the wall suggest that his wife's psychological condition is the result of torture by MI5. Jasper is engaged in the illegal growing and selling of cannabis.

Upon his return to London, Theo is kidnapped by "The Fishes"; the leader of which turns out to be his ex-wife, Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore) who offers him £5,000 in exchange for travel permits to the coast for a member of The Fishes, a young West African refugee girl named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey). Theo and Julian have not had much contact with each other since their divorce; it is suggested this has been precipitated by the death (from pandemic flu) of their young son, Dylan.

Theo visits his cousin Nigel (Danny Huston), a high-ranking government minister and curator of the "Ark of Arts", a secure depository for art rescued from the worldwide social meltdown, including the damaged Michelangelo's David, and Picasso's Guernica. After a lavish dinner, Theo creates a fake story to get the necessary transit papers for Kee. He obtains the papers but they have been arranged so that he must accompany Kee.

While Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor), one of "The Fishes", is driving Kee, Julian, Theo, and a woman named Miriam (Pam Ferris) through a forested area towards the first security checkpoint, they are ambushed by a mob of outlaws. Julian is shot in the throat by a pair of the unseen outlaws on a motorcycle and dies. Theo manages to at least disable, if not seriously wound or kill, two outlaws who are about to shoot him by slamming them with the car door and causing them to crash. After Luke kills two policemen who come to investigate, and Julian is given a small funeral, they go to a safe house in the country where Luke is appointed the new leader of "The Fishes" by a gathering of their leaders. During the meeting, Kee quietly reveals to Theo that she is pregnant - the miracle for which the whole world has given up waiting.

File:86339005,8DEF2C503DF6D3B5961.jpg

Owen and Moore

Luke explains to Theo that "The Fishes" intend to take Kee to a rendezvous with a hospital ship disguised as a fishing trawler called Tomorrow, which will carry Kee to "The Human Project"; a benevolent group of scientists reportedly based in the Azores, dedicated to reversing infertility and preserving humanity. A debate breaks out about the safety of this plan now that the police are searching for them and Kee is made to choose what to do. She opts to stay at the safe house and give birth under the protection of "The Fishes" and travel to "The Human Project" later. Theo wishes to go public and thus be able to bring Kee to a doctor but "The Fishes" fear that she will be taken by the government and portrayed as a British citizen and therefore a British miracle.

In the middle of the night Theo awakens to a commotion outside. He looks outside his window and recognizes the motorcycle from the attack that killed Julian. He quietly investigates and overhears Luke talking to some other members of the group, revealing that he staged the assault to assassinate Julian and that he wishes to use Kee's baby as a rallying point for a revolution. Luke has no intention of ever sending Kee to the Human Project and gives orders for Theo to be killed the next day. Because of Kee's status as an immigrant, "The Fishes" wish to use her as a symbol for immigrantion and show how it can have a positive effect on Britain. Stunned, Theo sneaks off with Kee and Miriam, with some of "The Fishes" in pursuit. Kee remembers Julian's original directive ('if anything goes wrong, trust Theo') and the three (barely) escape to Jasper's carefully-concealed house.

Miriam explains to the group that the rendezvous with Tomorrow is scheduled to take place at a certain buoy, located offshore from Bexhill, which has become an internment camp for refugees. Jasper hatches a plan to smuggle them to the camp with the help of Syd, his corrupt police contact. It is during this time that we learn of Theo and Julian's son Dylan, who had died from a deadly flu pandemic in 2008. It is implied that this may be one of the reasons of the world-wide infertility.

The plan has just been put into place when the intruder alarms sound - "The Fishes" have discovered Theo's contact with Jasper and are rapidly approaching the house. Jasper gives Theo his car to get Kee and Miriam away and stays behind to distract them. While Theo watches in horror from a nearby hill, Jasper feeds his wife and dog the suicide drug Quietus and is shot to death when he refuses to tell them where Theo has gone and attempts to delay them by prevaricating ("pull my finger").

Theo, Miriam, and Kee flee to an abandoned primary school where they are to meet Syd (Peter Mullan). In a lull, Miriam explains how as a midwife, she witnessed the beginning of the infertility crisis. There was an increase in miscarriages — early and late term — and no new pregnancies. Upon comparing her observations with midwives in other countries, they realised that women were no longer becoming pregnant.

Syd arrives and drives them to Bexhill, but Kee starts having contractions. Syd turns a blind eye and loads the three onto a bus filled with refugees to take them into the camp. As they pull in, Kee begins to go into labour and her water breaks as a guard enters the bus. The guard notices her screams, but Miriam distracts him by faking religious mania and obstructing him. The guard brutally hits Miriam and drags her off the bus, taking her away with a black hood over her head. Theo saves Kee from the same fate and, as instructed by Syd, they enter the camp and meet a gypsy woman, Marichka. Once she leaves the room, Kee gives birth to a baby girl with Theo's assistance.

The next morning "The Fishes" attack and break into Bexhill in an attempt to get at the baby, provoking an armed uprising. As the uprising gains momentum, the British Army moves into the town to quell the rebellion. Syd arrives, and just like Winston Smith and Julia in Orwell's 1984, betrays them, albeit for a different reason: to collect a large bounty.

With Marichka's help, they fight off Syd; Marichka beating him with a ballister and Theo finally smashing in his head with a car battery. Theo and Kee try to obtain a boat to take them to "The Human Project" but are captured by "The Fishes". Before they can kill Theo, a gunfight with the military ensues. In the chaos, all are separated.

Theo escapes and rescues Kee and the baby from a building in which "The Fishes" have taken cover. Luke shoots at Theo, and immediately returns to the gunfight with the military who surround the building.

When the combatants hear the baby's cry, the gunfire and the firefight stops. As Theo, Kee and the baby leave the building, they are greeted with awe, many of the soldiers kneeling around them, a couple of them genuflecting as though they are witnessing a miracle.

However, the fighting resumes shortly after they have left the building, with the Fishes firing first and the soldiers retaliating; Theo, Kee, and the baby rejoin Marichka who has been hiding nearby and make their way to a small rowing boat. Marichka refuses to accompany them, and watches as they row out to the rendezvous point. Military jets pass overhead and we see the sky glow as they bomb Bexhill, as Syd had warned.

Kee panicks when she sees that the bottom of the boat is full of blood, but learns that it is not hers, but Theo's, when he was shot in the building. Kee tells him she will name her baby Dylan, after Theo and Julian's deceased child. Theo smiles at Kee before dying. As Kee cradles her baby in the rocky boat, the Tomorrow (a hospital ship disguised as a fishing ship, part of The Human Project) emerges from the thick fog and slowly approaches them. The screen cuts to black, and sounds of laughter of children at play are heard as the credits roll, implying that there may be hope for creating a new generation of children.

Themes

The original book by P. D. James explores what happens when society is unable to reproduce, using male infertility to explain this problem. The film switches the cause to female infertility, and expands this theme as a metaphor for a loss of care, respect, and hope for humanity and future generations. This theme further reflects upon the degradation of the environment, the issue of immigration, and the treatment of refugees. The refugee camps themselves were made to visually reference Abu Ghraib prison, Guantánamo Bay detainment camp, and The Maze.[1]

The relationship between animals and humans in a world without children is a theme adapted from the book. Animals in general are found in almost every scene in the film, including cats, dogs, cows, horses, pigs, deer, and sheep, with even a zebra and a camel making an appearance. The Art Ark scene even pays homage to the Pink Floyd album Animals, with the location of the Battersea Power Station and an inflated flying pig framed in the background. Pink Floyd's Animals was in turn inspired by George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Religious symbolism

The film's story, namely the hero's journey, closely follows the structure of Joseph Campbell's monomyth, as detailed in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. As such, the film has a great deal of religious symbology. Some of the more important examples include the meaning of Theodore's name, which means "God's gift" in Greek, to Kee's initial revelation about her pregnancy in a barn, to her birth in a contemporary manger with Theo (reflecting Mary and Joseph), and Syd's betrayal for a bounty (as Judas had done to the Christ for silver); when Syd first notices Kee's child, he twice exclaims "Jesus Christ". The appearance in the sky of a star to guide the Tomorrow ship to the buoy where Kee and her baby await is also important.

The theme of peace is presented in a religious context. The mantra-like Hindu phrase, "shanti, shanti, shanti" is spoken by Miriam, Kee, and Jasper. In Sanskrit, the term means inner peace. While it is said at the end of the Upanishads, of particular note to the theme of the movie is its use by T. S. Eliot as the closing lines to his poem "The Waste Land"; the phrase appears on the screen to close the film after the end credits.

Cast

File:CoMPicture.jpg

Theo and Kee, played by Owen and Ashitey respectively

Principal Cast & Characters
Clive Owen	Theodore Faron
Julianne Moore	Julian Taylor
Chiwetel Ejiofor	Luke
Charlie Hunnam	Patric
Danny Huston	Nigel
Claire-Hope Ashitey	Kee
Peter Mullan	Syd
Pam Ferris	Miriam
Michael Caine	Jasper Palmer
Oana Pellea	Marichka
Faruk Pruti	Sirdjan

Filmmaking

Cinematography

File:CoMBehindTheScenesPic.jpg

Owen, Lubezki, and Cuarón on the set

For one scene, shot in one extended take, a special camera rig was invented by Doggicam Systems, developed from Doggicam Systems' Power Slide system — and a vehicle was modified so that seats could be made to tilt and lower actors out of the way of the camera. The windshield of the car in which the five actors rode was designed to tilt out of the way to allow camera movement in and out through the front windscreen. A crew of four, including the DP and camera operator, rode on the roof.

Although it has been commonly reported that this scene, and a later nine-minute climactic battle scene took place in one uncut shot, there is some suspicion that this is incorrect. According to unofficial sources, the battle scene was captured in five separate takes over two locations and then seamlessly stitched together in order to give the appearance of a single take. Because the US release of the film was 4 months after the international release, film makers decided to keep the use of CGI a secret until after the film had played in the US.

Set dressing

Set dressing is of particular interest in the film, as much of the exposition in the film takes place not in the form of dialogue, but as details built into the scene. An example is a newspaper clipping showing a featured character, which mentions her torture by MI5, explaining her catatonic state. In another instance, a television advertisement for "Quietus," a suicide drug, appears in the background of a scene. When the drug is mentioned later in another context, it is already a familiar element. Newspaper clippings also give an insight to the timeline of the movie and events that have crafted the current state of affairs. One scene features a room covered in newspaper. Some of the articles cover aspects of the events surrounding humanity's looming extinction, from the failures of fertility programmes, with one story covering the death of a "test tube baby", to responses to it, another story covering a scandal about a plastic surgeon, while another headline proclaims that "Age doesn't matter". Others involve stories of the global collapse and the violence that follows, Russia detonating a nuclear bomb in Kazakhstan, the nuclear bomb explosion in Africa. These are interspersed with stories on more down to earth, present-day topics, one including a spread about "The Unforgettable Bobby Moore".

Graffiti of the words "The Uprising" and of the ichthys — the symbol of the underground group known in the film as the "fishes" or "fishies" — appears painted on walls in several scenes, a foreshadowing of later events in the film.

In the Ark of Arts, famous art works, like Picasso's Guernica, appears on a dining room wall; the painting depicts the Nazi bombing of Gernika, Spain, with images of suffering people, animals, and buildings in the midst of violence and chaos. The painting directly foreshadows the coming battle against the uprising at Bexhill-on-Sea and the air raid at the end. Michelangelo's David appears, damaged, but repaired, with its left shin replaced with a metal bar; in contrast, his Pietà is described as being "smashed up" before the British could arrive to save it. Despite the state of the world, the wealthy appear to lead lives of great privilege, as these works of art are stored in a section of the city walled off by armed guards. Theo rides through this gated community in a Bentley as equally expensive cars and the Household Cavalry in full regalia share the same street. He passes by a park where well-dressed people enjoy a performance by a brass band and where a zebra is on display. There is also a passing glimpse of an Arab man and a camel, perhaps indicating that immigrants with wealth have been welcomed into Britain. Perhaps the brightest scene of the movie, this is all in stark contrast with the crowded dirty streets outside where immigrants are rounded up.

Interestingly, in another scene, Theo is seen wearing a hooded top with the logo of the London 2012 Olympics, which suggests that they went ahead even while the world was beginning to collapse. It could be seen as significant, as it suggests that it could have been the last Olympics to have been held. His hooded top does not feature the London Olympic symbol as we know it now, which suggests the filmakers were unable to obtain the rights to it.

Reception

As of January 12, 2007, the film holds a 91% positive review rating and a "cream of the crop" 92% positive review rating from Rotten Tomatoes.. As of January 18, 2007, it also has an 84% "Universally Acclaimed" status on metacritic..

The film was awarded the 2006 USC Scripter Award.

Soundtrack

There were two soundtracks for the film, one including the actual film score and another playing as a soundtrack with various popular music acts.

Soundtrack

Untitled

Former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker's song "Running the World" is played in the credits of the film. The song is drawn from his 2006 debut solo album Jarvis.

Two songs that are heard during the movie, "Omgyjya Switch7" by Aphex Twin and "Life in a Glasshouse" by Radiohead are not included on the soundtrack. Furthermore, the track "Maps of the Problematique" by Muse was used in a TV spot but was not featured in the film.

Track Listing

1. "Hush" (Deep Purple) – 4:25
2. "Witness (1 Hope)" (Roots Manuva) – 4:14
3. "Tomorrow Never Knows" (Junior Parker) – 3:30
4. "Sleepy Shores" (Michael Price) – 2:52
5. "The Court of the Crimson King" (King Crimson) – 4:49
6. "Backward" (Kode9, Spaceape) – 4:33
7. "Wait" (The Kills) – 4:47
8. "There Is an Ocean" (Donovan) – 4:47
9. "Ruby Tuesday" (Franco Battiato) – 3:37
10. "Money Honey" (Annette Henry, Kevin Martin) – 3:46
11. "Arbeit Macht Frei" (The Libertines) – 1:15
12. "Indian Stomp" (Cyrus) – 3:29
13. "Bring on the Lucie (Freeda Peeple)" (John Lennon) – 4:13
14. "Running the World" (Jarvis Cocker) – 4:43

Original Score

Untitled

The film score was released in 2006 and was composed by John Tavener. It was released in 2006 on Varese Sarabande.

The poetry of William Blake is featured in the lyrics to "Eternity's Sunrise", a work Tavener had previously written and dedicated to Princess Diana after her death.

Track listing

1. "Fragments of a Prayer" – 15:21
2. "Eternity's Sunrise" – 10:53
3. "Alexander's Feast/War, He Sung, Is Toil and Trouble" (George Frideric Handel) – 4:44
4. "Kindertotenlieder/Nun Will Die Sonn' So Hell Aufgeh'n" (Gustav Mahler) – 5:31
5. "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" (Krzysztof Penderecki) – 9:59
6. "Song of the Angel" – 4:35
7. "The Lamb" – 3:20
8. "Mother and Child" – 12:38
9. "Mother of God, Here I Stand" – 3:28

Trivia

• Michael Caine's portrayal of Jasper Palmer was based on an older version of John Lennon, whom he knew personally.
• "Strawberry Cough", the cannabis strain grown by Palmer, is a real form of medical cannabis, cultivated for its anti-anxiety properties.
• In the scene where Marichka brings Theo and Kee to their apartment in Bexhill, the camera pans across several instances of graffiti on the wall behind the actors. At the end of this scene, the camera lingers momentarily on the words "The Uprising" with some Arabic script written above it. The script spells out "intifada", which in Arabic also means uprising.
• The film features various graffiti including "kissing coppers" by the self-described "art terrorist" Banksy, seen when Theo drives in to the power station.
• It is the first major motion picture known to legally use a Creative Commons-licensed sample from Freesound in its production. The sound used was "male_Thijs_loud_scream.aiff" posted by the user thanvannispen, and the film properly attributes the sample in the credits.
• The British Homeland Security personnel, seen throughout the first half of the movie wearing black military fatigues, carry the currently-experimental Heckler & Koch XM8 rifle.

See also

• The Children of Men, the novel by P.D. James on which the movie is based.
• "Dark Rain", an episode from the third season of Outer Limits, aired in February 1997. "Dark Rain" is also based on The Children of Men.

External links

• Children of Men official website
• Children of Men at IMDb
• Children of Men at Rotten Tomatoes
• Children of Men trailer at Apple.com
• Children of Men reviews at Metacritic
• The Prague Post review by Steffen Silvis
• Cuaron Faced New Challenges in ' Children of Men'
• The New York Times, Apocalypse Now, but in the Wasteland a Child Is Given, a review by Manohla Dargis
• Children of Men review at Spill.com