Cuarón gives birth to Children of Men

By Joe Pelone
Collegian Editor
January 24, 2007

The pseudo-scholarly and oh so handy Wikipedia defines extinction as “the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity.” Extinction usually occurs due to exterior changes — a new climate, predator, disease, etc. could wipe out a species lickity split. But in Alfonso Cuarón’s harrowing Children of Men, the threat of extinction comes from something entirely internal. The year is 2027, and all of the women on Earth are infertile.

One of the questions Children of Men ponders is what people would do if they all knew the end was imminent. The answer it comes up with is: go crazy, start riots and squander all of the resources left on the planet. Most of the major countries all over the globe, including the good ol’ U.S.A., have crumbled due to economic and social turmoil.

Great Britain soldiers on, though, albeit in an incredibly fascist fashion. Immigrants are forced into concentration camps in an effort to quell the huge number of refugees flowing in from pretty much everywhere else. Tensions run high between the government and terrorists, and bombings become a regular occurrence throughout England. Meanwhile, Clive Owen and Michael Caine, mellow dudes with little political agenda, hang out, smoke weed and wait for the end of the world.

I’ll be straight with ya’ll — in the first paragraph, when I wrote that “all of the women on Earth are infertile,” I sort of, kind of, maybe, lied. Sort of. See, there is one woman, a teenage girl played by fresh face Claire-Hope Ashitey, who somehow did manage to get preggers. Mind you, she’s the first woman since 2009 to actually get knocked up, so this is a bit of a big deal to people. It’s such a big deal that Ashitey becomes more than just a pregnant woman, even more than a symbol of hope for the species — she becomes a political tool.

The government wants her for experiments and power, the terrorists want her so they can gain leverage for their own propaganda and Owen just wants the gosh darn baby to be born.

Despite its science fiction elements, Children of Men comes off as totally realistic, and more than just a little similar to current events. Being a human myself (I ain’t no stinkin’ Reploid!), I want to believe that all of the violence committed by both armed forces and terrorists in this film is just fiction, that no one would kill in the name of something so unrelated and ridiculous. But replace “baby” with “God,” and you’ve pretty much found yourself in a Bob Dylan song, my man. Everyone thinks they’re fighting with God/baby on their side.

But while Cuarón’s depiction of humanity is definitely a bad one, at least he presents it with thrilling cinematography. The action sequences in Children of Men have an unflinching war documentary feel to them. There’s a fair amount of gore, but none of it is glorified or even focused on. It merely happens. Cuarón also keeps the number of camera shots to a minimum. As the film progresses, the takes become more and more uncomfortably long and unforgiving. But man, are they great.

Children of Men has worked its way into Collegian’s “Best of 2006” list, as it did have a limited release last year before going wide this month, and it’s obvious why. The film’s plot twists and convincing performances keep it interesting from start to finish. At turns beautiful and violent, Children of Men is a stunning piece of cinema. Though not perfect (Ashitey is still a bit green here, but it’s only her second movie ever), it still does what stories are supposed to do — suck us in and make us care.

pelonej1@lasalle.edu