Anti-war Film "Children of Men" chillingly portrays the 24/7 hell of Iraq.

[Divernan]

I saw this film last night - it is beyond classic - the most powerful film I have ever seen - and I've seen thousands. What makes this film unique? Sui Generis? I will try to explain.

The Fall of Saigon occurred on April 29th-30th, 1975. None of the major films depicting the Vietnam War were produced or distributed until after that war had ignominously ended. Coming Home and Deerhunter were released in 1978; Apocalypse Now in 1979, Platoon in ‘86, Full Metal Jacket in ‘87, Born on the Fourth of July, ‘89 - to name some of the genre. With the exception of a few, minimally viewed documentaries (Mick Jaegger’s 1970 “Sympathy for the Devil”) these films were produced too late to influence the course of the war in Vietnam.

The same holds true for such films about earlier wars - All's Quiet On the Western Front, The Americanization of Emily, the Russian "Ballad of a Soldier", Jean Renoir's 1938 WW One drama -"Grand Illusion",Das Boot, On The Beach, even anime's 1988 "Grave of the Fireflies"(WW II Japan).

What makes Children of Men not only an excellent, powerful film, but one of unique impact, is that while nominally set several decades in the future, it powerfully portrays the current, 24/7 hell of urban warfare in Iraq as it is experienced by the citizens and combatants in that country - at the very moment that I viewed the movie last night and again this morning as I am writing this review in the total safety of my den. It is a chilling experience to watch violence on the screen and know that on the other side of the world, similar scenes are playing out in real life - and it is promoted and funded by my country and my tax dollars. If you watch this film, you will have a much closer idea of what it was like to be in Fallujah under siege, whether you were a combatant or a resident.

There were many young men in their late teens and early 20's in the theatre last night. The film was preceded by the ubiquitous PR promotions for the National Guard, the Army, the Marines - depicting National Guard helping elderly people out of flooded areas in the US, and showing a young Marine being handed a posy of flowers by a smiling Iraqi child. All of the people in those promotional films were unbloodied and in possession of all their limbs.

In stark contrast, Children of Men presented the reality of urban war - it depicted the kind of violent scenes which we saw on the nightly news during the Vietnam War, and which our embedded reporters and TV networks are NOT showing us regarding the daily violence in Iraq.

Those reviewers who give this film negative reviews seem to me to be people who are in frightened denial of the inevitable consequences of the policy decisions and actions of the current administration - whether it be health care, global weather change, immigration or wars of aggression.

[rainy]

1. Was the PR for the National Guard etc, an intentional part of the film or

a real ad?

[Divernan]

2. My cineplex (18 screens) runs separate film clips for Guard, Army

etc., before the previews for every movie you see there. All hearts and flowers with no battle scenes - lots of handsome uniforms, etc. It was NOT part of the film.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. here.....children of men

http://www.http://www.childrenofmen.net/.net/

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. fixed link...

http://www.childrenofmen.net/

ya got too many https and wwws and .nets in there Gabi :)

[Gabi Hayes]

9. thx thx nt nt

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Anti-War?

I read the book several years ago. I would have pegged it as having an anti-fascist undertone to it; the story itself is about an ecological disaster, the sudden mass sterility of all human women.

I found the book rather slow and talky, though well-written, like most of P.D. James' oeuvre. I guess I'll just have to see the movie.

--p!

[VelmaD]

6. Actually I believe in the book it was the men...

who were all suddenly sterile. But the movie changed it to the women...which I find pretty irritating but not surprising.

[YOY]

8. Sterile men and fertile women would not spell immediate doom...

The other way around would...

It was changed for a good reason.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. We Saw it Last Night. It Was Almost Terrifying To Watch.

I said multiple times "My God that's what Iraq is like". It was disturbing as can be to watch. Even though it was just a movie, it was extremely nerve racking to sit through those scenes and it was too easy to imagine what the anxiety must be like in Iraq.

Don't know what else to say. I'm still disturbed by those scenes. Very powerful.

(On a separate note, we did think overall the movie sucked, the plot was almost empty and the ending immensely dissatisfying.)