A bleak, yet believable tomorrow...

Rating: 8/10 (4 May 2013)

In 2027, humans have lost the ability to procreate. It has been 18 years since the last child came into the world and no one understands why. Earth faces extinction if a miracle doesn't arrive soon.
The world is in complete chaos. The rich have everything and the poor sit in cages waiting for some unknown fate. Our protagonist is a man called Theo (Clive Owen), who finds himself working for an anti- government organization called the Fishes. He is paid to transport a young woman (Kee) out of England, to something called the Human Project.
As it turns out, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) is pregnant. Is the human race finally saved or will Kee be killed before reaching safety? Theo sets out on a journey to save Kee and possibly the world.
Children of Men is what I would call an intelligent and philosophical science fiction movie. It doesn't waste time on the technology of the future (except perhaps in a couple of scenes) instead it focuses all its time on its story. In this movie, the future is bleak and there is little (if any) hope. Most have given up and give little thought on tomorrow. What is important is now today. For them the world is about surviving. Kee is different. She represents hope and perhaps a future. To emphasize this, at the end of the movie, the boat that comes to get her is called Tomorrow. A little cheesy, but since it is the only cheesy part of this movie, I can easily accept it.
While it is tempting to compare the baby with Jesus, the film makes no such claim. In fact, when Theo asks who the father is, Kee makes a joke that she is a virgin. She is not a virgin and her child is no Jesus. The big question is, what will happen when the world learns that a baby has been born?
The setting is very believable. It is gray and dirty, a strange mix of plasma screens (ads and warnings), graffiti, filth and broken down buildings. The colors are certainly meant to enforce the bleakness of the world. We know that something has happened because old newspaper articles proclaim that a nuclear war had broken out, but other than that, it isn't a part of the story. Perhaps the cause of the childless world is radiation, perhaps it is just the way of nature. A curse on mankind, because animals certainly don't have that problem.
The movie is all its own and I find it hard (if not impossible) to find any other movie that has directly influenced it. Most science fiction stories are about characters surviving, but in Children of Men, it is not just a story about Theo and Kee, it is a story about all mankind.
(small personal note: I can't mention this movie without also mentioning Michael Caine. He is a very cool actor and his role in this movie (Jaspar), while small, is one of his absolute best. He is one of the few hopefully people of the world and makes sure that you will laugh at least once during this movie.)