Everything your denial keeps you from seeing: "Children of Men"

[donsu]

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1675.shtml


Director Alfonso Cuaron has adapted P.D. James' 1993 futuristic novel written in the genre of George Orwell into a stunning film that many people will not see -- dare not see, because it depicts the world we all fear we are being catapulted into at lightning speed. That world of the year 2027 is one that folks my age may or may not be around for, but if given the choice, I prefer to pass.

Cuaron's futuristic thriller/downer almost immediately dispenses with the United States as in the first five minutes of the film, we are told that along with a plethora of other nations, it has collapsed, while "England soldiers on." All other modern empires have crumbled, and only the last vestiges of the former British empire remain as millions of refugees and immigrants from around the world, hoping to survive, inundate the country, which has managed to remain relatively calm and prosperous. Hence, a massive Homeland Security apparatus has been deployed to round up and incarcerate them. Meanwhile, pollution has rendered humankind infertile with the oldest child on earth being only 18 years old. In this bleak, morbidly gray world, not only do terrorist groups abound and urban warfare prevail, but citizens are offered free suicide pills with the Shakespearean pharmacological brand-name, Quietus.

-snip-

Despite one reference to "the pandemics of 2008", what Children Of Men did not show us was future certainties such as unspeakable climate chaos resulting from global warming, the abject hunger and malnutrition brought about by worldwide famine and disappearing food supply, the horrific consequences of hydrocarbon energy depletion, or a global economic Armageddon. Therefore, in that sense, its depictions were not as accurate as they could have been, but the authenticity of the consequences of other issues such as pollution, war, depression, and despair were nothing less than chilling in their plausibility.

As the world stands on the threshold of unremitting global! resource wars, the triumph of fascism in the United States, and most disheartening of all, a community of politicians and a citizenry within the Empire that are absolutely intractable in their unwillingness to acknowledge these realities and address their root causes, Children Of Men could not be more timely. It offers us a grisly snapshot of a future that does not have to happen but one that is guaranteed if humans continue to infantilize themselves with denial -- literally choosing to be "children" rather than mature "men" and women.
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I read P.D. James's book when it came out and ever since then when I see the rise in the amount of fertility clinics, double and oddly sexed fish and mammels becoming everyday happenings, I think of the book.

P.D. James is a wise woman.

[Little Wing]

1. It was okay

I liked Caine's character, the final escape sequence is a bit convoluted

[donsu]

3. what do you have to say about the message of the movie?

nt

[Little Wing]

11. I really didn't see a clear message

was it anti-immigration that was making people infertile or pollution?

[AX10]

2. I hope it gets an Oscar nod.

[ceile]

4. I read the book in when I was college

and I remember thinking that it could very well happen.
I heven't seen the movie yet though.

[villager]

5. One of the year's best films

Along with "Pan's Labyrinth" and "V for Vendetta"

[bigscott]

6. global warming was really a non-issue

in the movie or london would have been underwater or at least severly flooded from the Thames - and the refugee camp on the coast looked like an "abandoned" coastal city - which if global warming were depicted in the movie - would not still have been a coastal city - it would have been underwater

[villager]

9. well, you can't have every single issue in a film

and I thought this one did a fine job of tackling the ones it took on, which haven't been addressed in other films at all...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. Well, now that depends.

On things like whether or not it was a coastal city to begin with. And how steep the beach is.

But this is a silly argument. Can't we talk about something important, like continuity errors in Star Trek series?

[Sailor for Warner]

16. I like Arthur C. Clarks recent books for that

He tackles a world with Global Warming in the future with a wink and a nod.

[OneBlueSky]

7. "community of politicians and a citizenry within the Empire that are absolutely intractable . . .

in their unwillingness to acknowledge these realities and address their root causes" . . .

a very apt description of the U.S in 2007 . . .

[wicket]

8. The film is very powerful

:kick:

[tenshi816]

12. I'm trying to imagine

"millions of refugees and immigrants" inundating Britain. It's already twelve times more densely packed than the United States in a land mass a fraction of the size.

Not a pretty picture.

Edited to add that I'm being flippant and haven't seen the film nor read the book, but I think I that I should make a point of doing so now.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

13. My Wife And I Both Found It To Be An Amazing Waste Of Our Time. Empty Plot, Pure Boredom, And

a total "WTF??? That's the end???" at the end.

Total waste of time.

I'll admit that the war scenes were quite disturbing and impactful and were almost terrifying; but the movie has a whole was void of plot and an utter waste of time in both of our opinions.

[AlienGirl]

14. We're all trying to nurture something unbearably precious in the middle of a war zone...

I found the ending touching for its metaphor for how life always is.

Tucker

[frylock]

15. i just wasn't feeling this film..

I really wanted to like it, and was encouraged by the rave reviews, but I really didn't feel it merited the praise it's received.

[femmedem]

17. What interested me about the movie:

The ever-present Homeland Security, the xenophobia, the Abu Ghraib-like scenes, the awareness of risk every time you stepped out of your house. I kept thinking that this dystopic movie was every day life in Baghdad, today.

[progressoid]

18. It's on the top of my list to see....

as soon as I find some spare $$$.