Imagine being part of the last generation of human beings.
Growing up, knowing that there will never be anyone younger than you; no one coming
up to pass the baton to.
Knowing that after you, it's done.
No more human race.
It's depressing and hopeless isn't it?
Well, that's the world that we get to see in Children Of Men.
-Why can't we make babies anymore?
Some of them say it's genetic experiments, gamma rays, pollution...same old same old.
Alfonso Cuarón shows us a version of London that has fallen into disrepair.
The streets are filthy, the cars look old, there is graffiti everywhere, there are refugees
in cages, the colors look bleak and bland, even the sun seems to be hidden for most of
the film.
It's a gritty world.
The majority of shots are handheld, which gives us the impression of witnessing an actual
event through a documentary.
This is accentuated by certain moments where the camera lags behind the action and lingers
on the background.
Not too long, just slightly enough so that we can assess how miserable the world has
become.
These raw and disturbing shots are made to elicit strong reactions from the viewers,
making it feel real.
So much is said and explained through the visuals without having characters go off on
a complicated expositional rant.
The filmmakers take it a step further by having long, uninterrupted shots that immerse us
in the action.
As a whole, the expertly crafted cinematography, attention to detail and deliberate camerawork
forces us to breathe in this nauseating, decaying world.
The state of the world is reflected in the film's protagonist Theo Faron.
He's described in the script as "a veteran of hopelessness.
He gave up before the world did".
-Even if they discovered the cure for infertility it doesn't matter...to late... the world went
to shit.
You know what it was too late before the infertility thing happened for Fuck sake.
Theo used to be an activist in his youth.
That is how he met Julian, the woman whom he married.
They wanted to make a better world.
Unfortunately for the couple, the world crumbled around them.
They had a child, Dylan, around the same time that the infertility crisis had begun.
The child's death was the couple's breaking point.
Julian left to find more causes to fight for, whereas Theo stopped believing that the world
could be saved.
As opposed to David, from The Lobster, Theo does have agency.
He isn't a blank canvas.
Theo would probably rather be like David because that way it would be easier to not care and
keep going along.
Theo tries to numb himself to the world through alcohol.
Theo begins the film as a passive observer, waiting for the inevitable.
When the youngest person on Earth, baby Diego, dies; Theo is unaffected.
He's annoyed by how much people are saddened by the news
The world has become an empty shell of its former self; it's still physically there but
its soul has been taken away.
Baby Diego was a symbol of what humanity had: youth and a future.
His passing brutally reminded everyone of the futility of life in this dying world.
Everyone has different ways of dealing with the impending doom.
Throughout the film, we hear about different groups of people that have focused their energy
on sharing their religious beliefs.
Some believe that infertility is a divine punishment and the only cure is repentance.Theo
and his friend Jasper even joke about it because there are so many of them that it's hard to
keep track.
-Renounce-ism?
Are those the ones that kneel down for a month for salvation?
-No they're the repenters.
The renouncers flagellate themselves for the forgiveness of humanity.
-Oh right!
Since most of the world governments have fallen due to uprisings, terrorism, disease or even
natural events, Britain is seen as the sole bastion of civilization.
Hordes of immigrants want to sneak into England to survive.
Other than the refugees, there are groups of people who are trying to get the government
to validate the refugee presence in the country.
Some are peaceful while some degenerated in their activism and have become terrorists.
-You are under the jurisdiction of the fishes.
The fishes are at war with the British government until they recognize equal rights for every
immigrant in Britain.
-We're not going to hurt to you.
We just want to talk.
The British characters who are for the most part unaffected by the refugee crisis are
passive: they're content with going along their lives without caring.
Such is the case that Theo gets abducted in plain daylight, in front of people and no
one does a thing to stop it.
Other people have replaced the caring for children by caring for pets.
There are many animals in the film.
Those animals have become proxies for the children that will never come.
As part of the blu-ray's bonus features, we're even treated to commercials featuring a clothing
line for dogs and cats.
In the script, it's even described that there are lifelike dolls that are sold.
They mimic a baby's cry and even warmth.
The government dispenses anti-depressants as part of rations.
There is even a company called Quietus that provides suicide kits for people who wish
to end everything just a little bit sooner.
-It's not bullshit what they say...They pass away quite peacefully.
At one point in the movie, Theo goes to visit his cousin Nigel.
Nigel works in the government and has been trying to salvage works of art before they
are destroyed.
He seems for the most part unburdened by the severity of the world's situation.
If you were to look at him and his environment without context, you would never guess that
there is a world ending crisis happening.
He lives surrounded by great art that has endured for centuries, and observing his casual
demeanor, one would think that he also believes that people will be admiring the same art
for centuries to come.
Visually, Nigel and Theo are on opposite sides of the spectrum.
Seeing the absurdity of Nigel's life when faced with the world's reality, Theo asks:
-100 years from now there won't be one sad fuck to look at any of this...What keeps you
going?
-You know what it is Theo?
...I just don't think about it.
As the story progresses, Theo's former wife Julian comes back into his life to ask him
for help.
She needs him to get papers for a fugee girl.
At the start, Theo isn't convinced he should help.
He's walked away from activism and just doesn't care.
He does however know that Julian wouldn't have asked him if it wasn't of the utmost
importance.
He joins Julian's group and goes along with the plan to help the fugee.
Theo's passivity is tested when the group is ambushed in one of the film's most breathtaking
oners.
The scene is brutal and exudes horror, desperation and hopelessness.
The travelers are trapped in the car, with no place to run.
They're on a collision course with people that are carrying weapons and they know that
inevitably, blood will be spilled.
They are powerless to escape, no one is coming to magically save them.
They're on their own.
This scene mirrors the world they live in: it's merciless and death is the end result.
Faced with his own demise, Theo reacts in order to help the group have a chance of surviving.
Unfortunately for him, it's too late.
Julian's death almost destroys the small remnants of humanity Theo had held on to until something
life altering is revealed.
The girl that was being escorted is pregnant.
At that moment, Theo's unflinching carapace of indifference begins to crack.
He sees that there is a glimmer of hope for the world and he chooses to act.
He decides to help protect the girl even at his own risk and peril.
He doesn't care about being harmed because he knows that his suffering, in the end, isn't
comparable to what the first birth of a child in 20 years would mean to humanity.
Hope and faith are intermingled ever-present themes in the film.
They are also what used to drive Theo before his son's death.
-Julian and Theo met among a million protestors in a rally by chance but they were there because
of what they believed in the first place.
Their faith.
They wanted to change the world an there faith kept them together, but by chance Dylan was
born.
-This is him?
-Yeah that's him.
He would've been about your age.
Magical child...beautiful.
Their faith put into practice.
The hope that things will get better and the faith to know that they can.
The flame that was extinguished by the loss of a child is now rekindled by the birth of
another.
One way that the filmmakers develop the themes of hope and faith is by presenting comparisons
to the Nativity story.
Some analogies have depth while others are very on the nose, but they help to get the
point across.
The girl's name is Kee, spelled K-E-E, as in she is the key to humanity's survival.
She reveals her pregnancy in a barn, surrounded by animals, calling back to Jesus' birth in
a manger.
Theo is a surrogate for Joseph because he wasn't involved in the conception of the baby,
but he does help protect the pregnant mother during the trek.
Even Theo's name might bear more meaning.
In itself, the name "Theo" is derived from the ancient Greek "theos" which means god.
However, Theo's full name is Thelonious.
The name is from German origin and signifies "the one who plows the earth".
It could symbolize that Theo is meant to be the one who helps prepare the earth for the
arrival of the child.
Plowing also has to do with the fertility of land.
An interesting reaction from people finding out Kee is pregnant is the exclamation of:
-Jesus Christ -Jesus Christ
The child is not born from a wealthy citizen of the country in power (the Roman Empire
is England in this case), but from a refugee that comes from a maligned land, amidst sociopolitical
distress.
The first people to bear witness to the miraculous birth are poor, dirty, filthy folk who are
usually around animals (the would-be sheep herders).
At one point, a woman who sees Kee with her child even starts reciting the Archangel Gabriel's
words to Mary.
The child's birth is seen as something that can unify the survivors and lead them towards
a future of salvation.
Theo's mission is to help get Kee to the scientists from The Human Project.
They're supposed to be sending a boat called the Tomorrow to get her and the baby the best
care possible.
The problem is that no one knows for sure if the Human Project exists.
Julian was the only person that could reach them.
All Kee and Theo can do is have faith that the Human Project is real, and that humanity
will have a chance to be saved.
Early in the film, when Theo survives the cafe bombing, we get to hear the ringing
in his ears.
Julian explains to him that:
-That's the sound if ear cells dying, like there swan song.
Once it's gone, you'll never hear that frequency again.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
As the action progresses, we get to hear that ringing more often, implying that he's losing
more and more of his hearing.
That is what is happening with the world.
With every death, every explosion, every act of violence, the remaining people are losing
their hope, their compassion...everything that once made them human.
It represents humanity's swan song.
Throughout the film's journey, we witness how much humanity has declined.
By removing the hope of a future, people began losing a part of themselves.
With an impending expiration date, the value of human life becomes irrelevant.
Suicides are normalized and even encouraged through Quietus.
Illegal immigrants and refugees are seen as animals by the government.
They are caged and even killed off like rabid mutts.
Even Kee's unborn child was being stripped of her humanity by the activists.
They thought of the baby as a tool that could serve their own political purposes and not
as a person that would grow up and have her own life.
In the movie's climax, when it seems that Theo, Kee and the baby's lives will be swallowed
up by war something unexpected happens.
Everybody stops when they hear the baby crying.
It has been so long since anyone has heard a child's cries that it surprises them and
makes them unable to continue.
Even the soldiers and the warring factions lower their weapons.
The child reminds them of what they had, what they lost, but also, what they can regain.
The infertility crisis changed the world in Children of Men.
It set humanity down a winding path that lead to so much loss.
Loss of life, hope, and even identity.
The birth of a child in a barren world offers a chance for a new beginning.
The survivors can choose to be like the people who witnessed the child's cries and go back
to fighting mere minutes after ceasing fire, perpetuating the same cycle of violence and
death as always, or, they could change, the way Theo did.
He started off as a passive bystander and was thrust into a situation bigger than himself.
He went from being reactionary to taking initiative and having a say in his own destiny.
Theo is no longer the man he was at the beginning.
He has fought for what he believed in and even though he will certainly die due to the
fight, he is happy to have helped pave the way for a better future.
Kee honors him by naming her child Dylan, after Theo and Julian's deceased son; making
their dream of a better future live on through the new generation's first birth.
Theo's faith is rewarded as the Tomorrow arrives.
We're left to speculate what becomes of everyone.
Alfonso Cuarón has stated that the film isn't meant to be a sci-fi movie about the
future, but a look at our present.
Even though the film is over a decade old, it's easy to see parallels within our current
society.
Cuarón also said that the ending of the movie is open enough so that people can infer
their own interpretation.
A pessimistic person might see the ending as depressing, where as an optimist might
see hope.
No matter how you perceive the ending to be, we can agree that enacting change is not easy.
Breaking the cycle takes hard work, blood, determination and trust that the following
generation will have learned enough from our mistakes to know what to do next.
Once we move on, it will be the responsibility of those that come after us to either maintain
the human identity that has been reclaimed or to let it die.