An appeal for humanity

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2019)

The message that stayed with me most from "Children of Men" is that in this apocalyptic world, seemingly everyone involved, at first, saw baby as a political tool, be it the government or the rebels. That's partly why humanity is in the state that it is in this film, because of the lack of humanity. Just like the British government showed no mercy to the refugees, it seemed no one would see the baby for what it really was: just a baby. But in this deeply depressing world there are glimmers of hope. Men stop fighting to let the mother and her baby pass through. The child brings peace. In the last scene, they are found by the Human Project. It's an oasis of hope, that there really are people in the world that are dedicated to making it a better place.
Along the way, we see the distressing human cost of Britain's survival. We see the demonization of outsiders through newspaper headlines, the inhuman way they are treated and the terrorism that happens as a result. Although the introduction to this film's world is a bit clumsy and slow, we do see a fair bit. The film is rich in symbolism, most obviously in the iconic pig and power station background but also in the war zone the sense that the baby, like Christ, stopped men from being evil, if only for a short while. Many moments ground us in the reality of a world without children, such as the sight of a derelict school with a playground that has been unused for years. While it's not visible straight away, "Children of Men" has heart.
It's the war zone sequence that this film is most known for, and rightly so. It's the most powerful part of the film, intense in its impact. With Cuaron's signature long shot we experience the violence in a more realistic way than we are used to in film. I found myself wishing the fighters would just show some kindness, and finally they did. Elsewhere in the film, the long shot is really effectively used in the car chase scene, when the camera simply rotates within the car throughout. In both cases, it makes for an uncomfortably realistic experience watching.