# Children of Men

Children of Men is a 2006 dystopian science fiction film set in the United Kingdom in a future stricken with mass human infertility. The film centers around the efforts to secretly smuggle a woman who is miraculously pregnant from London to an offshore science team working to save humanity from extinction.
    Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Written by Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ost, based on P. D. James' 1992 novel The Children of Men.

## Theo Faron

* I can't really remember when I last had any hope, and I certainly can't remember when anyone else did either. Because really, since women stopped being able to have babies, what's left to hope for?

## Jasper Palmer

* Everything is a mythical cosmic battle between faith and chance.
* [to Kee] Your baby is the miracle the whole world has been waiting for.

## Julian Taylor

* You know that ringing in your ears? That 'eeeeeeee'? That's the sound of the ear cells dying. Like their swan song. Once it's gone, you'll never hear that frequency again. Enjoy it while it lasts.

## Kee

* You know, when I started puking, I thought I catch the pest. But then my belly started getting big. Nobody ever told me these things. I never seen a pregnant woman before. But I knew. I felt like a freak. I didn't tell nobody. I thought about the Quietus thing. Supposed to be suave. Pretty music and all that. Then the baby kicked. I feel it. Little bastard was alive. And I feel it. And me, too. I am alive.

## Miriam

* I was 31. Midwife at the John Radcliffe. I was doing a stint in the antenatal clinic. Three of my patients miscarried in one week. Others were in their fifth and sixth month. We managed to save two of the poor babies. Next week, five more miscarried. Then the miscarriages started happening earlier. I remember booking a woman in for her next appointment and noticing that the page seven months ahead was completely blank. Not a single name.
* As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd what happens in a world without children's voices. I was there at the end.

## Syd

* Usually, there's people trying to get out of Bexhill, not in. Syd doesn't know why you want to get in. Syd doesn't want to know. Syd doesn't care.
* All right. You're fugees now. Show Syd the fugee face. Sad face. Sad fugee face.
* Syd was watching television last night with Mummy. She's a sweet old soul. Dying of cancer. It's heartbreaking. And then the news came on, and you two were on it. Something about a cop killer. Something about a big reward. Syd then finds out the Fishes are looking for you. So Syd thinks, "If the Fishes are looking for you, and the coppers are looking for you, you people are first class commodities."

## Luke

* I was carrying the baby up the stairs. I started crying. I'd forgotten what they looked like. They're so beautiful. They're so tiny. Julian was wrong! She thought it could be peaceful! But how can it be peaceful when they try to take away your dignity?
* [his final words after being told the baby is a girl] A girl? I had a sister.

## Others

* Newsreader: Day one thousand of the siege of Seattle. The Muslim community demands an end to the Army's occupation of mosques. The Homeland Security bill is ratified. After eight years, British borders will remain closed. The deportation of illegal immigrants will continue. Good morning. Our lead story. The world was stunned today by the death of Diego Ricardo, the youngest person on the planet. Baby Diego was stabbed outside a bar in Buenos Aires after refusing to sign an autograph.
* Radio Announcer: And now one for all the nostalgics out there. A blast from the past all the way back from 2003, that beautiful time when people refused to accept that the future was just around the corner.

## Dialogue

    Jasper: Any girls?
    Theo: No.
    Jasper: What about the one we had lunch with? Lauren?
    Theo: Lorna. That was ages ago.
    Jasper: I liked her. What happened?
    Theo: She decided to renounce.
    Jasper: Renouncers? Are those the ones that kneel down for a month for salvation?
    Theo: No. They're the Repenters. The Renouncers flagellate themselves for the forgiveness of humanity.
    Jasper: Oh, right. Dating ain't what it used to be, is it, amigo?
    Jasper: So, Human Project is having this dinner and all the wisest men in the world are there...
    Theo: "Human Project." Why do people believe this crap? You know, even if these people existed with these facilities in secret locations... Fuck me, that's strong. Even if they discovered the cure for infertility, it doesn't matter. Too late. The world went to shit. You know what? It was too late before the infertility thing happened, for fuck's sake.
    Jasper: I was just trying to tell a joke, man.
    Theo: Oh, I'm sorry, go on.
    Jasper: No, I'm not tellin' it now!
    Theo: No, c'mon Jasper, go on!
    Jasper: No, fuck it! I'm not tellin' it to you!
    Theo: C'mon, I'm sorry!
    Jasper: OK, the Human Project gives this great big dinner for all the scientists and sages in the world. They're tossing around theories about the ultimate mystery, why are women infertile? Why can't we make babies anymore? Some of them say it's genetic experiments, gamma rays, pollution. Same old, same old. Anyway, in the corner, this Englishman's sitting. He hasn't said a word. He's just tucking into his dinner. So they decide to ask him. They say, "Well, why do you think we can't make babies anymore?" And he looks up at them, and he's chewing on this great big wing, and he says, "I haven't the faintest idea," he said. "But this stork is quite tasty, isn't it?"
    Jasper: What did you do for your birthday?
    Theo: Nothing.
    Jasper: Oh come on, you must have done something.
    Theo: Nope. Woke up, felt like shit. Went to work, felt like shit.
    Jasper: That's called a hangover, Amigo.
    Jasper: Julian and Theo met among a million protesters in a rally by chance. But they were there because of what they believed in in the first place, their faith. They wanted to change the world. And their faith kept them together. But by chance, Dylan was born.
    Kee: [picks up a photo] This is him?
    Jasper: Yeah, that's him. He'd have been about your age. Magical child. Beautiful. Their faith put in praxis.
    Miriam: "Praxis"? What happened?
    Jasper: Chance. He was their sweet little dream. He had little hands, little legs, little feet. Little lungs. And in 2008, along came the flu pandemic. And then, by chance, he was gone. You see, Theo's faith lost out to chance. So, why bother if life's going to make its own choices?
    Kee: Baby's got Theo's eyes.
    Jasper: Yeah.
    Miriam: Oh, boy. That's terrible. But, you know, everything happens for a reason.
    Jasper: That, I don't know. But Theo and Julian would always bring Dylan. He loved it here.
    Patric: This never fucking happened. Don't go telling tales, cause' we'll be watching you. At work. When you sleep. When you have a piss we'll be watching. All the fucking time.
    Theo: Jeez, your breath stinks.
    Patric: No it doesn't.
    Theo: Yes it does.
    Nigel: That thing in Madrid was a real blow to art.
    Theo: Not to mention people.
    Theo: You kill me. A hundred years from now, there won't be one sad fuck to look at any of this. What keeps you going?
    Nigel: You know what it is, Theo? I just don't think about it.
    Julian: Kee, this is Theo.
    Kee: What the fuck you staring at?
    Theo: Apparently the pleasure's all mine. Are we planning a sing-along? Good. I'm gonna take a nap.
    Kee: You told me he was suave. Wanker's a drunk.
    Julian: He's suave. You should have seen him in the old days when he was a real activist.
    Theo: You were the activist, I just wanted to get laid.

## Taglines

* No children. No future. No hope.
* The future's a thing of the past.
* The last one to die please turn out the light.
* The last days of the human race.
* No child has been born for 18 years.
* He must protect our only hope.
* In 20 years, women are infertile. No children. No future. No hope. But all that can change in a heartbeat.

## Cast

* Clive Owen - Theo Faron
* Julianne Moore - Julian Taylor
* Michael Caine - Jasper Palmer
* Chiwetel Ejiofor - Luke
* Charlie Hunnam - Patric
* Clare-Hope Ashitey - Kee
* Pam Ferris - Miriam
* Peter Mullan - Syd
* Danny Huston - Nigel
* Oana Pellea - Marichka
* Paul Sharma - Ian
* Jacek Koman - Tomasz

## External links

* Children of Men quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Children of Men at Rotten Tomatoes