By Josh Hornbeck
Lets be honest, you and I. 2006 was not a banner year for movies. Sure, there were a few gems out there in the midst of all the overblown action films and trite, tasteless comedies, but for the most part, the multiplex has been full of unremarkable, instantly forgettable movies. However, Alfonso Cuarón’s(1) latest film, Children of Men, made me remember why I love movies. Adapted from the novel by P.D. James, Children of Men is both gritty and poetic, bleak and hopeful. It’s science fiction steeped in realism. And it is, hands down, one of the best films of this year.
Set twenty years in the future, Children of Men takes place in a world where there’s no one under twenty. Women are infertile and the earth has fallen into chaos. Britain is isolated from the rest of the globe and remains insulated from most issue, due in large part to a stringent and merciless anti-immigration policy. But the nation still has its share of problems. Terrorists strike at any place and any time. The fearful and hopeless join cults to deal with the underlying pessimism of their lives. In the midst of this we mess of a world, we meet Theo Faron, a low-level government employee who gets roped into an impossible mission by his ex-wife. He’s asked to help smuggle a woman out of the country, an illegal immigrant who also happens to be the first woman to become pregnant in more than twenty years. As he escorts the young woman across the country, he finds himself trying to outmaneuver both the British government and the Fishes – a terrorist organization looking to use the pregnant mother for their own less-than noble purposes. Their only hope is the “Human Project,” a near mythic organization that may or may not provide salvation to the weary travelers.
Cuarón is one of those directors who’s comfortable no matter what genre or style of film he works with. Here he takes a high concept science-fiction premise and grounds it in reality with an almost documentary filmmaking technique. The camera seems to be struggling to keep up with the action from time to time, just missing important bits of business or capturing moments with stark and unflinching simplicity. The effect draws us into the story even more powerfully than if the camera work had been smooth and flashy, catching us off guard as moments of violence erupt on the screen or stirring our heart with hope as we enter into the promise that the film’s protagonists are struggling to protect. Sure, the performances and dialogue seem to be a bit wooden during the film’s first moments, but in a world that is bereft of hope, isn’t that to be expected? And as the characters begin to see the possibility of a future beyond their own, the coldness and detachment we first saw in them begins to melt away in the light of hope.
In the Book of Proverbs it states that “Without vision, the people perish.(2)” In Children of Men we see this statement played out. There is no hope for the future for any character in the film. No children are being born. The world will end and there will be no one to continue on. Because of this despair, the civilization is falling apart. There are a few people that attempt to forget about the inevitable collapse of society, clinging to remnants of a more hopeful time. But most see the chasm opened wide before them and rush headlong into destruction. Without hope there’s nothing to live for. With nothing to live for everyone does as they please and society suffers the consequences.
Our world is full of fear and uncertainty lurks around every corner. Terrorism and war and violence explode across our television screens. The economy seems to get worse day by day as the streets are filled with the broke and unemployed. Corporations take more control of the culture and the earth itself is being destroyed by mankind’s insatiable need for more. We seem to be heading for the abyss with nothing to stop us. It’s enough to make anyone lose hope. We’ve lost vision for the future. But as Christians, we don’t have to remain in a place of hopelessness and despair. Yes, we can acknowledge the pain and brokenness of this world, but we don’t have to lose ourselves to it. We have hope in Christ and in a life that comes after this one, a hope that doesn’t just let us sit and patiently wait for heaven, but a hope that should make us actively forge ahead, creating a better world in the here and now. Without Christ, we’re powerless to do this and even our best intentions tend to fail miserably, as we see with the Fishes and their “noble” ends. But with a hope and vision centered in Christ, we can and should be constantly striving to make this world a better place.
While Cuarón refuses to answer the question of why women in the future are infertile, there is a sense that his film is commenting on the way currently live for the here and now without a thought for the future. We aren’t willing to sacrifice our own desires and personal impulses to make certain that the world we entered as children is a better place for our children to grow up in. We want all of the luxuries life can offer and don’t care if there is a price to pay in the future. After all, we most likely will not have to deal with the consequences of our current actions. In Children of Men, Cuarón gives us a portrait of this mindset played out to its logical conclusion. Because we aren’t thinking of the future, there may not be a future at all. Contrast this point of view with that shared by many of the film’s protagonists. Each of them is ready to sacrifice everything to see that this baby enters the world. Each of them is willing to give up their life in order that the next generation may continue on. Each of them abandons everything to the hope that this woman and her child provides.
What an amazing perspective. How many of us are willing to give up any of the comforts or luxuries we now have so that the world can be a better place? Our culture is so trapped by the material realities of the here and now that such a sacrifice seems impossible and – at the very least – undesirable. But as Christians, we are called to look beyond the present, to look beyond the all of the clutter and junk that surrounds our lives, and live for the future, to live for the hope set before us. We must be willing to leave all of these material distractions behind and, like the characters in the film, totally abandon ourselves to the hope we have in Christ, no matter where it leads us.
There is quite a bit of strong language throughout the film. It never feels excessive though, and adds to the grittiness of the film’s world.
While there is no sexual content onscreen, there is a moment when Kee, the young pregnant woman, takes her clothes off to show Theo that she is with child. In this moment there is some brief, non-sexual nudity. When she gives birth to the child, the process is seen, if not in graphic detail, in enough detail so that it’s a little more real than the way most movies depict childbirth. There are also a few moments where sex is discussed.
There is quite a bit of harsh and brutal violence. It explodes onto the screen unexpectedly and fades from view again just as quickly. It is throughout the movie, but again, it isn’t excessive or used for titillation at all and adds to the film’s bleak landscape.
(1) Cuarón is the Mexican filmmaker who brought us such varied films as A Little Princess, Y Tu Mamá También, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
(2) Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
(Posted 01/15/2007)
