Children of Men

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Children of Men
Children of Men poster
Directed by	Alfonso Cuarón
Written by	Novel: P.D. James Screenplay: Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
Starring	Clive Owen Julianne Moore Michael Caine Claire-Hope Ashitey Pam Ferris Chiwetel Ejiofor
Music by	John Tavener
Cinematography	Emmanuel Lubezki
Editing by	Alfonso Cuarón Alex Rodríguez
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	September 22, 2006 December 25, 2006
Running time	109 mins
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$80 million[1]
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Children of Men is a 2006 British science fiction film directed by Alfonso Cuarón and released by Universal Pictures. Loosely adapted from P.D. James' 1992 novel The Children of Men, the cast includes Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Caine. Released on September 22, 2006 in the United Kingdom and on December 25 in the United States, Children of Men was nominated for three Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in 2007.

The film is set in a dystopian 2027 United Kingdom, where two decades of global infertility has left the entire human race with less than a century before extinction. The resulting widespread societal collapse has led to terrorism, environmental destruction, and the creation of millions of refugees^[2]. Humanity's best hope seemingly lies with the secretive Human Project, a group working to save the human species. When a pregnant West African refugee named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) surfaces, civil servant Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is convinced to transport her, mankind's newly found future, to an awaiting rendezvous with the Human Project, while keeping her safe from Britain's active and oppressive crackdown on immigrants.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Its release was well-received and critics noted its Christmas weekend opening in the United States as appropriate to its messages of hope, redemption and faith. Children of Men, similar to Cuarón's earlier Y Tu Mamá También (2001), continues his extensive use of present-day social, economic and political issues that rise to the level of characters in their roles as backdrops to road film action. Artistically, the film was recognized for its camera-work, employing startling single-shot action sequences. It garnered important awards and nominations in this area.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Themes 3.1 Hope 3.2 Contemporary references 3.3 Myth and religion 4 Production 4.1 Location 4.2 Style and design 4.3 Single-shot sequences 5 Music 6 Release 6.1 DVD 6.2 Critical reception 7 Notes and references 8 External links

[edit] Plot

It is November 16, 2027, and reports of the murder of eighteen-year-old "Baby Diego", the youngest person on the planet and the last child known to have been born, are broadcast around the world. Theo Faron (Clive Owen), a former political activist turned bureaucrat, appears apathetic to the news while the rest of the world mourns it. A bomb explodes as Theo leaves a London café, the government later blaming the attack on the "Fishes", a terrorist group that fights for immigrant rights. Shaken by the bombing, Theo visits his friend, Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine), a former political cartoonist living in the countryside, who spends much of his time growing cannabis and caring for his catatonic wife, a former war photographer.

Upon his return to London, Theo is kidnapped by the Fishes, led by his estranged wife Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore). Their young son, Dylan, died during the flu pandemic of 2008. Julian offers Theo £5,000 in exchange for a travel permit for a young African "fugee" (refugee) girl named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey). To obtain the permits, Theo visits his cousin Nigel (Danny Huston), a high-ranking government minister and curator of the "Ark of Arts", a repository for rescued art. Theo receives the papers, but they stipulate that he must accompany Kee. A member of The Fishes, Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor), drives Theo, Kee, Julian, and Miriam (Pam Ferris) toward the first security checkpoint. They are ambushed along the way, and Julian is fatally shot in the neck. On the run from the police, they escape to a safe house, where Luke is appointed the new leader.

Kee reveals to Theo the purpose of her journey: she is pregnant. Julian and the Fishes intended to take Kee to the Human Project, a group of scientists dedicated to curing infertility. Kee also tells Theo that he is the only one she trusts to take her to the Human Project, which Theo rejects (Theo doesn't even think the Project exists). With Julian dead, Luke proposes keeping Kee with the Fishes, and she chooses to stay until after the baby is born. Theo wishes to go public, but the Fishes argue that Kee's baby will be taken by the government and used for its benefit. Just before dawn, Theo awakens to overhear Luke reveal that he staged the ambush to assassinate Julian, allowing Luke to use Kee's baby as a political tool for his cause. Theo also overhears Luke give orders for Theo to be killed, and Theo escapes with Kee and Miriam to Jasper's house with the Fishes in pursuit. At Jasper's, Miriam explains that the rendezvous with the Human Project's ship Tomorrow is scheduled at a buoy offshore from the Bexhill refugee camp. Jasper proposes a plan to smuggle them into the camp with the help of Syd, his corrupt police contact.

The Fishes discover Jasper's hideout, and Jasper stays behind to delay the Fishes while the rest escape. Jasper is shot to death in cold blood by Luke when he refuses to reveal Kee's destination. Theo, Miriam, and Kee meet Syd (Peter Mullan) at an abandoned school, and he drives them to Bexhill as faux-prisoners. Kee begins having contractions and the three are loaded onto a refugee bus and taken into the camp. Kee's labor intensifies as they arrive. Miriam distracts a suspicious guard from noticing Kee's condition, and is dragged off the bus into detention. Theo and Kee enter Bexhill and meet Syd's contact, Marichka, who provides them with a room where Kee gives birth to a girl. The next morning, the Fishes break into Bexhill, attempting to capture Kee and her baby. A camp uprising gains momentum, and the British Army moves in to quell the rebellion.

Syd reappears and betrays Theo and Kee, in order to collect a bounty. With Marichka's help, they fight off Syd and escape. While heading for a boat they are recaptured by the Fishes, but before the Fishes can kill Theo and Marichka a firefight with the military starts, and in the chaos all are separated. Theo tracks the Fishes to a besieged apartment building where many of them are taken down in gunfire including Patric, where Theo finds Kee and the baby with Luke. Theo frees them, but Luke shoots at Theo, wounding him, just before an explosion obliterates the room and kills Luke. When the combatants hear the baby's cry, both soldiers and rebels cease fighting, awed. Theo, Kee, and the baby leave the building, unmolested by the stunned combatants. The tacit truce is broken by another explosion and the fight resumes as Theo, Kee, and the baby rejoin Marichka and make their way to a small boat.

Marichka declines to join them, and they row out to the buoy marking the rendezvous point. Military jets pass overhead and the sky glows as Bexhill is bombed. Kee panics when she sees blood in the boat, but it is actually Theo's. Theo admits that he was shot during their escape, but says he's alright, just as he gives advice to Kee about comforting her baby. Kee says she will name her baby Dylan, and Theo gives a weak smile before slumping to the side in the boat as the Human Project ship Tomorrow emerges from the thick fog.

[edit] Cast

Clive Owen stars as everyman Theo Faron,^[8] the activist turned bureaucrat who escorts Kee to meet the Human Project. He was cast in April 2005^[9] and spent several weeks collaborating with Cuarón and Sexton about his role. Impressed by Owen's creative insights, Cuarón and Sexton brought him on board as a writer.^[10] Backstory developing Theo's character was removed during the editing process. A scene showing Theo stealing petrol vouchers from work was cut to emphasize visual over verbal information. "Clive was a big help," Cuarón told Variety. "I would send a group of scenes to him, and then I would hear his feedback and instincts."^[11]

Julianne Moore portrays Julian Taylor, the former wife and mother to Theo's deceased child, now a political activist. She was cast in June of 2005.^[12]

Michael Caine plays Jasper Palmer, Theo's friend, a retired editorial cartoonist and neo-hippie who sells cannabis to the Bexhill refugee internment camp. Caine based Jasper on his personal experiences with friend John Lennon.^[10] The role of Jasper was a change for Caine as it was the first time he ever portrayed a character who would do things like fart or smoke cannabis. Cuarón explains, "Once he had the clothes and so on and stepped in front of the mirror to look at himself, his body language started changing. Michael loved it. He believed he was this guy".^[13] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune notices an apparent homage to Schwartz (Mort Mills) in Orson Welles film noir, Touch of Evil (1958). Jasper calls Theo "amigo" just like Schwartz did to Ramon Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston).^[14]

Claire-Hope Ashitey stars as Kee, a character that did not appear in the book. The role of an African illegal immigrant was written into the film, based on Cuarón's opinion of the recent single-origin hypothesis and the status of dispossessed people:^[15] "The fact that this child will be the child of an African woman has to do with the fact that humanity started in Africa. We're putting the future of humanity in the hands of the dispossessed and creating a new humanity to spring out of that."^[16] The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Luke, the replacement leader of the resistance movement.

[edit] Themes

[edit] Hope

Children of Men explores the theme of hope and faith^[17] in the face of overwhelming futility and despair.^[18][19] The film's source, the novel The Children of Men by P. D. James, describes what happens when society is unable to reproduce, using male infertility to explain this problem.^[20][21] The film switches the infertility to females^[19] but never explains the cause: environmental destruction and divine punishment are considered.^[22] These unanswered questions are attributed to Cuarón's dislike for expository film: "It's become now what I call a medium for lazy readers....Cinema is a hostage of narrative. And I'm very good at narrative as a hostage of cinema."^[23]

The theme of infertility expands as a metaphor for an increasing loss of hope for humanity.^[19] The "almost mythical" Human Project, with their goal of creating a new world,^[24] is turned into a "metaphor for the possibility of the evolution of the human spirit, the evolution of human understanding."^[25] Without dictating how the audience should feel by the end of the film, Cuarón encourages viewers to come to their own conclusions about the sense of hope depicted in the final scenes: "We wanted the end to be a glimpse of a possibility of hope, for the audience to invest their own sense of hope into that ending. So if you're a hopeful person you'll see a lot of hope, and if you're a bleak person you'll see a complete hopelessness at the end."^[6]

[edit] Contemporary references

Critic Jason Guerrasio describes the film as "a complex meditation on the politics of today" which highlights the debate on immigration.^[6] Ethan Alter observes that the film "makes a potent case against the anti-immigrant sentiment" popular in modern societies like the United Kingdom and the United States.^[26] Alter also notes the visual nature of the film's exposition, which occurs in the form of imagery as opposed to dialogue.^[26] For example, the refugee camps in the film were intended to visually invoke Abu Ghraib prison, Guantánamo Bay detainment camp, and The Maze.^[25] Other popular images appear, such as a prisoner in a pose resembling the photograph of Satar Jabar in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal, and a sign over the refugee camp reading "Homeland Security".^[27] The similarity between the hellish, cinéma vérité stylized battle scenes of the film and current news and documentary coverage of the Iraq War, is noted by film critic Manohla Dargis, describing Cuarón's fictional landscapes as "war zones of extraordinary plausibility".^[28]

In the film, refugees are "hunted down like cockroaches," rounded up and put into cages and camps, and even shot, leading film critics like Chris Smith and Claudia Puig to observe symbolic "overtones" and images of The Holocaust.^[29][18] This theme is reinforced in the scene where an elderly refugee woman speaking German is seen detained in a cage,^[5] and in the scene where British Homeland Security strips and beats illegal immigrants, a song by The Libertines, "Arbeit Macht Frei", plays in the background.^[30] "The visual allusions to the Nazi roundups are unnerving," writes Richard A. Blake. "It shows what people can become when the government orchestrates their fears for its own advantage."^[31]

Cuarón explains how he uses this imagery to propagate the theme by cross-referencing fictional and futuristic events with real, contemporary, or historical incidents and beliefs:

“

"They exit the Russian apartments, and the next shot you see is this woman wailing, holding the body of her son in her arms. This was a reference to a real photograph of a woman holding the body of her son in the Balkans, crying with the corpse of her son. It's very obvious that when the photographer captured that photograph, he was referencing La Pieta, the Michelangelo sculpture of Mary holding the corpse of Jesus. So: We have a reference to something that really happened, in the Balkans, which is itself a reference to the Michelangelo sculpture. At the same time, we use the sculpture of David early on, which is also by Michelangelo, and we have of course the whole reference to the Nativity. And so everything was referencing and cross-referencing, as much as we could."[10]

”

[edit] Myth and religion

Described as a "companion piece" to Cuarón's Y tu mamá también (2001), Children of Men is also a road movie: Theo's heroic journey across the UK mirrors his personal quest for "self-awareness",^[26] a journey that takes Theo from "despair to hope".^[32] According to Cuarón, the title of P.D. James' book (The Children of Men) is a Catholic allegory derived from a passage of scripture in the Bible.^[33] (Psalm 90(89):3 of the KJV: "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men."^[34]) James refers to her story as a "Christian fable"^[20] while Cuarón describes it as "almost like a look at Christianity": "I didn't want to shy away from the spiritual archetypes," Cuarón told Filmmaker Magazine. "But I wasn't interested in dealing with Dogma."^[6] The audience swims through an ocean of Christian symbolism, where British terrorists named "Fishes" protect the rights of refugees.^[35] Opening on Christmas Day in the United States, critics compared the characters of Theo and Kee with Joseph and Mary,^[36] calling the film a "modern-day Nativity story".^[37]

To highlight these spiritual themes, Cuarón commissioned a 15-minute piece by British composer John Tavener, an Orthodox Christian whose work resonates with the themes of "motherhood, birth, rebirth, and redemption in the eyes of God." Calling his score a "musical and spiritual reaction to Alfonso's film", snippets of Tavener's "Fragments of a Prayer" contain lyrics in Latin, German and Sanskrit sung by a mezzo-soprano. Words like "mata" (mother), "pahi mam" (protect me), "avatara" (saviour), and "alleluia" appear throughout the film.^[2][38]

Following the last scenes and the credits, a Sanskrit prayer for peace, "Shantih Shantih Shantih" is shown. These words are also used at the end of an Upanishad and in the final line of T.S. Eliot's poem, The Waste Land.^[39]

[edit] Production

The adaptation of the P.D. James novel was originally written by Paul Chart, and later rewritten by Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby. Developed by producers Hilary Shor and Tony Smith, Beacon Pictures brought director Alfonso Cuarón on board in 2001.^[40] Cuarón and screenwriter Timothy J. Sexton began rewriting the script after the director completed Y tu mamá también (2001). Afraid he would "start second guessing things"^[13] Cuarón chose not to read P.D. James' novel, opting to have Sexton read the book while Cuarón himself read an abridged version^[6][10]. Cuarón did not immediately begin production, instead directing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). The director's work experience in the United Kingdom exposed him to the "social dynamics of the British psyche", giving him insight into the depiction of "British reality".^[41]

Cuarón used the film The Battle of Algiers (1967) as a model for social reconstruction in preparation for production, presenting the film to Clive Owen as an example of his vision for Children of Men. In order to create a philosophical and social framework for the film, the director read literature by Slavoj Žižek, as well as similar works.^[42] The film Sunrise (1927) was also influential.^[19]

[edit] Location

The look and feel of the film A Clockwork Orange (1971) helped contribute to the futuristic, yet battered patina of 2027 London.^[19] Children of Men was the second film Cuarón made in London, with the director portraying the city as a character itself, shooting single, wide shots of the city.^[43] While Cuarón was preparing the film, the London bombings occurred, but the director never considered moving the production. "It would have been impossible to shoot anywhere but London, because of the very obvious way the locations were incorporated into the film," Cuarón told Variety. "For example, the shot of Fleet Street looking toward St. Paul's would have been impossible to shoot anywhere else."^[43] Due to these circumstances, the opening terrorist attack scene on Fleet Street was shot one-and-a-half months after the London bombing. Cuarón chose to shoot in East London, a location he considered "a place without glamour". The set locations were dressed to make them appear "more Mexican", creating an impoverished, rundown appearance.^[42] The director made use of London's most popular sites, shooting in locations like Trafalgar Square and Battersea Power Station. During the framing of the Power Station (a reference to Tate Modern), he added a pig balloon, an homage to Animals by Pink Floyd.^[44] London visual effects companies Double Negative and Framestore worked directly with Cuarón from script to post production, developing effects and creating "environments and shots that wouldn't otherwise be possible".^[43]

[edit] Style and design

"In most sci-fi epics, special effects substitute for story. Here they seamlessly advance it," observes Colin Covert of Star Tribune.^[45] Billboards were designed to balance a contemporary and futuristic appearance, and cars were made to resemble modern ones at first glance, although a closer look made them seem unfamiliar.^[46] Cuarón informed the art department that the film was the "anti-Blade Runner",^[47] rejecting technologically advanced proposals and downplaying the science fiction elements of the 2027 setting. The director focused on images reflecting the contemporary period,^[48] choosing to have innovative technology in the film's timeline discontinued by 2014. With the future in mind, Cuarón maintained a steady gaze on the present: "We didn't want to be distracted by the future. We didn't want to transport the audience into another reality."^[49]

[edit] Single-shot sequences

The Swiss film Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976), a favorite of Cuarón's, influenced the bravura, visual style of Children of Men. Cuarón reminisces: "I was studying cinema when I first saw [Jonah], and interested in the French New Wave. Jonah was so unflashy compared to those films. The camera keeps a certain distance and there are relatively few close-ups. It's elegant and flowing, constantly tracking, but very slowly and not calling attention to itself."^[50] Key scenes were shot in long takes with a handheld camera, a challenging, time-consuming process that sparked concerns from the studio. It took fourteen days to prepare for the single take where Clive Owen's character searches a building under attack, and five hours for every time they wanted to retake it. The take ended with blood splattered onto the lens, which cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (The New World) convinced the director to leave in for the final cut. According to Owen, "Right in the thick of it are me and the camera operator because we're doing this very complicated, very specific dance which, when we come to shoot, we have to make feel completely random."^[51]

Cuarón's initial idea for maintaining continuity during the roadside ambush scene was dismissed by production experts as an "impossible shot to do". Fresh from the visual effects-laden Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Cuarón suggested using computer-generated imagery to film the scene. Lubezki refused to allow it, reminding the director that the idea behind the film was akin to a "raw documentary". Instead, a special camera rig invented by Doggicam Systems was employed, allowing Cuarón to develop the scene as one extended take.^{[6] [14][52]} A vehicle was modified to enable seats to tilt and lower actors out of the way of the camera, and the windshield was designed to tilt out of the way to allow camera movement in and out through the front windscreen. A crew of four, including the DP and camera operator, rode on the roof. Although it has been commonly reported that both this scene and a later climactic battle scene were filmed in continuous shots,^[53] Frazer Churchill (VFX Supervisor) indicated that the latter was filmed in five separate takes over two locations and then seamlessly stitched together to give the appearance of a single take. The car sequence was filmed in six separate takes over three locations and then stitched together, along with various other CG elements including a CG roof.^[54] In an interview with Variety, Cuarón commented on the nature of the "single-shot" action sequences: "Maybe I'm spilling a big secret, but sometimes it's more than what it looks like. The important thing is how you blend everything and how you keep the perception of a fluid choreography through all of these different pieces."^[11]

Tim Webber of VFX house Framestore was responsible for the three-and-a-half minute single take of Kee giving birth, helping to choreograph and create the CG effects of the childbirth.^[43] Cuarón had originally intended to use an animatronic baby as Kee's child with the exception of the childbirth scene. In the end, two takes were shot, with the second take concealing Claire-Hope Ashitey's legs, replacing them with prosthetic legs. Cuarón was pleased with the results of the effect, and returned to previous shots of the baby in animatronic form and replaced the baby with Framestore's computer-generated form.^[54]

[edit] Music

Main article: Children of Men (soundtracks)

There were two soundtracks released for the film, one with various popular music, and an actual film score. Two songs that are heard during the movie, "Omgyjya Switch7" by Aphex Twin and "Life in a Glasshouse" by Radiohead, are not included on the soundtrack. "Map of the Problematique" by Muse and "Hoppípolla" by Sigur Rós were previously featured in TV spots and trailers but were not used in the film. The film's score was composed by John Tavener and includes work by other classical composers, such as George Frideric Handel, Gustav Mahler, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

[edit] Release

Children of Men held its world premiere at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2006.^[55] On September 22, 2006, Children of Men debuted at #1 in the United Kingdom with $2.4 million in 368 screens.^[56] The film debuted in a limited release in the United States on December 22, 2006 in 16 theaters, expanding the number of theaters to over 1,200 on January 5, 2007.^[57] As of February 28, 2007, Children of Men grossed $68,429,063 worldwide, with $34,929,063 of the revenue generated in the United States.^[58]

[edit] DVD

The DVD was released in Europe on January 15, 2007^[59]. In the United States, Universal Home Video released the film on DVD on March 27, 2007. Director Alfonso Cuarón added a half-hour documentary that explored the film's grim vision of humanity's fate. Other extras include an analysis of the film by philosopher Slavoj Zizek, who curiously calls it a remake of Y Tu Mamá También; a trio of deleted scenes, including one in which the characters portrayed by Clive Owen and Danny Huston wander nonchalantly amongst the great artworks of the lost civilization; a discussion of Cuarón's technique of long, "incredibly choreographed takes"; and a special effects study of making the film's miracle baby. [1]. The film also was released on a HD-DVD/DVD combo package.

[edit] Critical reception

Dana Stevens of Slate Magazine called the film "the herald of another blessed event: the arrival of a great director by the name of Alfonso Cuarón." Stevens hailed the film's extended car chase and battle scenes as "two of the most virtuoso single-shot chase sequences I've ever seen."^[60] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film a "superbly directed political thriller", raining accolades on the long chase scenes.^[28] "Easily one of the best films of the year" said Ethan Alter of Film Journal International, with scenes that "dazzle you with their technical complexity and visual virtuosity."^[26] Jonathan Romney of The Independent praised the accuracy of Cuarón's portrait of Britain, but he criticized some of the film's futuristic scenes as "run-of-the-mill future fantasy."^[5] On Rotten Tomatoes, Children of Men has a 91% overall approval out of 176 reviews from critics,^[61] and on Metacritic, the film has a rating of 84 based on 36 reviews.^[62] Set to P.D. James and the screenwriters of Children of Men were awarded the 19th annual USC Scripter Award for the screen adaptation of the novel. In reference to the award, Howard Rodman, chair of the USC School of Cinematic Arts Writing Division, described the book-to-screen adaptation as "writing and screen writing of the highest order."^[63]

The film received awards for Best Cinematography and Best Production Design at the 60th British Academy Film Awards and was also nominated for Best Visual Effects. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki won the feature film award for Best Cinematography at the 21st American Society of Cinematographers Awards. Nominations for the 79th Academy Awards were received in the categories of Best Adapted Screenplay (Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, et al.); Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki); and Best Film Editing (Alfonso Cuarón and Alex Rodríguez).^[64]

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Children of Men official website
• Children of Men at the Internet Movie Database
• Children of Men at Rotten Tomatoes
• Children of Men trailer at Apple.com