Children of Men
Children of Men | |
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Directed by | Alfonso Cuarón |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | The Children of Men by P. D. James |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki |
Edited by |
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Music by | John Tavener |
Production companies | |
Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 109 minutes[2] |
Countries |
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Language | English |
Budget | $76 million[1] |
Box office | $70.5 million[1] |
Children of Men is a 2006
The film was released by Universal Pictures on 22 September 2006, in the UK and on 25 December in the US. Despite the limited release and lack of any clear marketing strategy during awards season by the film's distributor,[8][9][10] Children of Men received critical acclaim and was recognised for its achievements in screenwriting, cinematography, art direction, and innovative single-shot action sequences. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. It was also nominated for three BAFTA Awards, winning Best Cinematography and Best Production Design, and for three Saturn Awards, winning Best Science Fiction Film. In 2016, it was voted 13th among 100 films considered the best of the 21st century by 117 film critics from around the world.
Plot
In 2027, eighteen years after human activities have caused widespread
Theo Faron, a former activist turned cynical
Kee reveals to Theo that she is pregnant, making her the only known pregnant woman in the world. Julian had intended to take her to the Human Project, a scientific research group in the Azores dedicated to curing humanity's infertility, which Theo believes does not exist. Luke becomes the new leader of the Fishes. That night, Theo eavesdrops on a discussion and learns that the Fishes orchestrated Julian's death so that Luke could become their leader and that they intend to kill him and use Kee's baby as a political tool. Theo wakes Kee and Miriam, and they escape to the secluded hideaway of Theo's reclusive, aging hippie friend Jasper Palmer, a former political cartoonist whose wife was tortured into catatonia by the British government for her activism.
The group plans to reach the Human Project ship, the Tomorrow, scheduled to arrive offshore at Bexhill, a notorious immigrant detention centre. Jasper plans to use Syd, an immigration officer to whom Jasper sells cannabis, to smuggle them into Bexhill as refugees, from where they can take a rowing boat to rendezvous with the Tomorrow. The next day, the Fishes discover Jasper's house, forcing the group to flee. Jasper stays behind to stall them and is murdered by Luke as Theo watches. Theo, Kee, and Miriam meet with Syd, who helps them board a bus to the camp. When Kee begins experiencing contractions, Miriam distracts a guard by feigning religious mania and is taken away.
Inside the camp, Theo and Kee meet a Romani woman, Marichka, who provides a room where Kee gives birth to a baby girl. The next day, Syd tells Theo and Kee that war has broken out between the British military and the refugees and that the Fishes have infiltrated the camp; he then reveals that Theo and Kee have a bounty on their heads and attempts to capture them. Theo subdues Syd with Marichka's help; they escape but are ambushed by the Fishes, who capture Kee and the baby. Theo tracks them to an apartment building that is under heavy fire. Theo confronts Luke, who is killed in an explosion, and Theo escorts Kee and the baby out. Awed by the baby, the British soldiers and Fishes temporarily stop fighting and allow the trio to leave. Marichka leads them to the boat but stays behind as they depart.
As British fighter jets conduct airstrikes on Bexhill, Theo and Kee row to the rendezvous point in heavy fog. Theo reveals that he was shot and wounded by Luke earlier; he teaches Kee how to burp her baby, and she tells him she will name the baby girl Dylan, after Theo's and Julian's lost son. Theo smiles weakly, then loses consciousness as the Tomorrow approaches. As the screen cuts to black, children's laughter is heard.
Cast
- Clive Owen as Thelonius "Theo" Faron, a former activist who was devastated when his child died during a flu pandemic.[12] Theo is the "archetypal everyman" who reluctantly becomes a saviour.[13][14] Cast in April 2005,[15] Owen spent several weeks collaborating with Cuarón and Sexton on his role. Impressed by Owen's creative insights, Cuarón and Sexton brought him on board as a writer.[16] "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."[17]
- recent single-origin hypothesis of human origins and the status of dispossessed people:[18] "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."[19]
- Julianne Moore as Julian Taylor. For Julian, Cuarón wanted an actress who had the "credibility of leadership, intelligence, [and] independence".[16] Moore was cast in June 2005, initially to play the first woman to become pregnant in 20 years.[20] "She is just so much fun to work with", Cuarón told Cinematical. "She is just pulling the rug out from under your feet all the time. You don't know where to stand, because she is going to make fun of you."[16]
- Michael Caine as Jasper Palmer, Theo's dealer and friend. Caine based Jasper on his experiences with friend John Lennon[16] – the first time he had portrayed a character who would fart or smoke cannabis.[21] 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".[21] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune notices an apparent homage to Schwartz in Orson Welles' film noir Touch of Evil (1958). Jasper calls Theo "amigo"—just as Schwartz referred to Ramon Miguel Vargas.[22] Jasper's cartoons, seen in his house, were provided by Steve Bell.[23]
- Pam Ferris as Miriam
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Luke
- Charlie Hunnam as Patric
- Peter Mullan as Syd
- Guernica, and Banksy's Kissing Coppers.
- Paul Sharmaas Ian
- Jacek Koman as Tomasz
- Juan Gabriel Yacuzzi as 'Baby' Diego, the world's youngest surviving human, born shortly before the global infertility incident.
- Ed Westwick as Alex, Nigel's son
Production
The option for the book was acquired by
Location
A Clockwork Orange was one of the inspirations for the futuristic, yet battered patina of 2027 London.[29] Children of Men was the second film Cuarón made in London, with the director portraying the city using single, wide shots.[30] While Cuarón was preparing the film, the London bombings occurred, but the director did not consider 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 towards St. Paul's would have been impossible to shoot anywhere else."[30] Due to these circumstances, the opening terrorist attack scene on Fleet Street was shot a month and a half after the London bombing.[28]
Cuarón chose to shoot some scenes in
The Historic Dockyard in Chatham was used to film the scene in the empty activist safehouse.[36]
The Shard tower was digitally added to London's skyline based on early architectural drawings as when the film was made the skyscraper had not yet been built but would have been by the time of the film's setting.[37]
Style and design
"In most sci-fi epics, special effects substitute for story. Here they seamlessly advance it", observes Colin Covert of Star Tribune.[38] Billboards were designed to balance a contemporary and futuristic appearance as well as easily visualizing what else was occurring in the rest of the world at the time, and cars were made to resemble modern ones at first glance, although a closer look made them seem unfamiliar.[39] Cuarón informed the art department that the film was the "anti-Blade Runner",[40] rejecting technologically advanced proposals and downplaying the science fiction elements of the 2027 setting. The director focused on images reflecting the contemporary period.[41][42]
References to the 2012 Summer Olympics which here held in London were put into the film as when the film was produced London had been selected as the host city.[37]
Single-shot sequences
Children of Men used several lengthy single-shot sequences in which extremely complex actions take place. The longest of these are a shot in which Kee gives birth (3m19s); an ambush on a country road (4m07s); and a scene in which Theo is captured by the Fishes, escapes, and runs down a street and through a building in the middle of a raging battle (6m18s).[43] These sequences were extremely difficult to film, although the effect of continuity is sometimes an illusion, aided by computer-generated imagery (CGI) effects.[44]
Cuarón had experimented with long takes in Great Expectations, Y tu mamá también, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. His style is influenced by the Swiss film Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000, one of his favourites. He said "I was studying cinema when I first saw [Jonah], and interested in the French New Wave. Jonah was so unflashy compared with 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."[45]
The creation of the single-shot sequences was a challenging, time-consuming process that sparked concerns from the studio. It took fourteen days to prepare for the single shot in which Clive Owen's character searches a building under attack, and five hours for every time they wanted to reshoot it. In the middle of one shot, blood splattered onto the lens, and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki convinced the director to leave it in. 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."[46]
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 they had intended to make a film akin to a "raw documentary". Instead, a special camera rig invented by Gary Thieltges of Doggicam Systems was employed, allowing Cuarón to develop the scene as one extended shot.[22][47] 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 director of photography and camera operator, rode on the roof.[48]
However, the commonly reported statement that the action scenes are continuous shots
Tim Webber of VFX house
Sound
Cuarón used a combination of rock, pop, electronic music, hip-hop and classical music for the film's soundtrack.[51] Ambient sounds of traffic, barking dogs, and advertisements follow the character of Theo through London, East Sussex and Kent, producing what Los Angeles Times writer Kevin Crust called an "urban audio rumble".[51] Crust considered that the music comments indirectly on the barren world of Children of Men: Deep Purple's version of "Hush" playing from Jasper's car radio becomes a "sly lullaby for a world without babies" while King Crimson's "The Court of the Crimson King" make a similar allusion with their lyrics, "three lullabies in an ancient tongue".[51]
Amongst a genre-spanning selection of
For the Bexhill scenes during the film's second half, Cuarón makes use of silence and cacophonous sound effects such as the firing of automatic weapons and loudspeakers directing the movement of refugee.[51] Classical music by George Frideric Handel, Gustav Mahler, and Krzysztof Penderecki's "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" complements the chaos of the refugee camp.[51] Throughout the film, John Tavener's Fragments of a Prayer is used as a spiritual motif.[51]
Themes
Hope and faith
Children of Men explores the themes of hope and faith[54] in the face of overwhelming futility and despair.[55][29] The film's source, P. D. James' novel The Children of Men (1992), describes what happens when society is unable to reproduce, using male infertility to explain this problem.[56][57] In the novel, it is made clear that hope depends on future generations. James writes "It was reasonable to struggle, to suffer, perhaps even to die, for a more just, a more compassionate society, but not in a world with no future where, all too soon, the very words 'justice', 'compassion', 'society’, 'struggle', 'evil', would be unheard echoes on an empty air."[58]
The film does not explain the cause of the infertility, although environmental destruction and divine punishment are considered.
Religion
Richard Blake, writing for
According to Cuarón, the title of P. D. James' book (
Ms. James's nativity story is, in Mr. Cuarón's version, set against the image of a prisoner in an orange smock with a black bag on his head, arms stretched out as if on a cross.
This divergence from the original was criticised by some, including Anthony Sacramone of First Things, who called the film "an act of vandalism", noting the irony of how Cuarón had removed religion from P.D. James' fable, in which morally sterile nihilism is overcome by Christianity.[68]
The film has been noted for its use of
To highlight these spiritual themes, Cuarón commissioned a 15-minute piece by British composer John Tavener, a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church 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 mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly. Words like "mata" (mother), "pahi mam" (protect me), "avatara" (saviour), and "alleluia" appear throughout the film.[73][74]
In the
Contemporary references
Children of Men takes an unconventional approach to the modern action film, using a documentary, newsreel style.[78] Film critics Michael Rowin, Jason Guerrasio and Ethan Alter observe the film's underlying touchstone of immigration.
For Alter and other critics, the structural support and impetus for the contemporary references rests upon the visual nature of the film's
In the film, refugees are "hunted down like cockroaches", rounded up and put into roofless cages open to the elements and camps, and even shot, leading film critics like Chris Smith and Claudia Puig to observe symbolic "overtones" and images of the
Cuarón explains how he uses imagery in his fictional and futuristic events to allude to 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 Pietà, 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.[16]
Academic analysis
Several academics have thoroughly examined the themes of the film, with a primary focus on Alfonso Cuarón's creation of a dystopian landscape. One prominent aspect explored is the treatment of refugees, illustrating the regulation of life and the authoritarian tendencies mirrored in the extreme policies of the British government depicted in the film.[83] Additionally, Marcus O'Donnell, a researcher, has characterized the film's political realism as a form of "visionary realism," encompassing various apocalyptic events rather than a singular one.[84] Moreover, the film delves into the notion of political protection juxtaposed with physical life, particularly evident in its exploration of the status of the unborn child. Kee's body serves as the battleground for these conflicting forces, offering a critique of migration politics while simultaneously idealizing the future child.[85]
Release
Box office
Children of Men had its
Home media
The HD-DVD and DVD were released in Europe on 15 January 2007
Reception
Critical response
Children of Men received critical acclaim; on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 92% approval rating based on 252 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Children of Men works on every level: as a violent chase thriller, a fantastical cautionary tale, and a sophisticated human drama about societies struggling to live."[93] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 84 out of 100, based on 38 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[94] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[95]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, writing, "Cuarón fulfills the promise of futuristic fiction; characters do not wear strange costumes or visit the moon, and the cities are not plastic hallucinations, but look just like today, except tired and shabby. Here is certainly a world ending not with a bang but a whimper, and the film serves as a cautionary warning."[96] Dana Stevens of Slate called it "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".[71] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film a "superbly directed political thriller", raining accolades on the long chase scenes.[80] "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".[64] Jonathan Romney of The Independent praised the accuracy of Cuarón's portrait of the United Kingdom, but he criticized some of the film's futuristic scenes as "run-of-the-mill future fantasy".[35] Film Comment's critics' poll of the best films of 2006 ranked the film number 19, while the 2006 readers' poll ranked it number two.[97] On their list of the best movies of 2006, The A.V. Club, the San Francisco Chronicle, Slate, and The Washington Post placed the film at number one.[98] Entertainment Weekly ranked the film seventh on its end-of-the-decade top 10 list, saying, "Alfonso Cuarón's dystopian 2006 film reminded us that adrenaline-juicing action sequences can work best when the future looks just as grimy as today".[99]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone ranked it number two on his list of best films of the decade, writing:
I thought director Alfonso Cuarón's film of P.D. James' futuristic political-fable novel was good when it opened in 2006. After repeated viewings, I know Children of Men is indisputably great ... No movie this decade was more redolent of sorrowful beauty and exhilarating action. You don't just watch the car ambush scene (pure camera wizardry)—you live inside it. That's Cuarón's magic: He makes you believe."[100]
According to Metacritic's analysis of the films most often noted on the best-of-the-decade lists, Children of Men is the 11th greatest film of the 2000s.[101]
In the book 501 Must-See Movies, Rob Hill lauds the movie for its dystopian portrayal of the future and its adept exploration of contemporary issues. Hill highlights the film's societal stagnation and the magnetizing effect of Britain for immigrants and terrorists, emphasizing the director's intelligence in weaving speculative narratives with real-world reflections. He applauds Cuarón's skill in creating a cinematic mirror that resonates with audiences by addressing pressing political and social concerns, all within a compelling dystopian framework.[102]
In the wake of the
Top 10 lists
The film appeared on many critics' top 10 lists as one of the best films of 2006:[98]
- 1st – Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
- 1st – Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club
- 1st – Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
- 1st – Tasha Robinson, The A.V. Club
- 2nd (of the decade) – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
- 2nd – Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter
- 2nd – Scott Tobias, The A.V. Club
- 3rd – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
- 4th – Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
- 4th – Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe
- 5th – Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald
- 6th – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
- 7th – Empire
- 7th – Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
- 7th – Ty Burr, The Boston Globe
- 8th – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times (tied with Pan's Labyrinth)
- 8th – Scott Foundas, LA Weekly (tied with L'Enfant)
- 8th – Scott Foundas, The Village Voice
- Unordered – Dana Stevens, Slate
- Unordered – Liam Lacey and Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail
- Unordered – Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor
- Unordered – Mark Kermode, BBC Radio 5 Live[citation needed]
In 2012, director
Accolades
Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Academy Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay
|
Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
|
Nominated | [121] |
Best Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki | Nominated | ||
Best Editing | Alfonso Cuarón and Álex Rodríguez | Nominated | ||
BAFTA Awards | Best Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki | Won | [122] |
Best Production Design | Jim Clay, Geoffrey Kirkland, and Jennifer Williams | Won | ||
Best Special Visual Effects | Frazer Churchill, Tim Webber, Mike Eames, and Paul Corbould | Nominated | ||
American Society of Cinematographers | Best Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki | Won | [123][124] |
Australian Cinematographers Society | International Award for Cinematography | Won | [125] | |
Hugo Awards
|
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form | P.D. James
|
Nominated | [126] |
Saturn Awards | Best Science Fiction Film | Children of Men | Won | [127] |
Best Director | Alfonso Cuarón | Nominated | .[128] | |
Best Actor | Clive Owen | Nominated | ||
University of Southern California | USC Scripter Award
|
Screenwriters | Won | [129] |
Notes
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{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Howell, Peter (29 March 2007). "A stark prophecy". Toronto Star.
- ^ Children of Men (Blu-ray ed.). United States. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
{{cite book}}
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Today, it's hard to watch the television news headlines in Children of Men without gasping at their prescience:
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[...] the 55-year-old director gets a little irritated when I laud the film's imaginative prescience.
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Again, hear the harrowing echoes of today's demonisation of the other and the championing of unflinching border security by the likes of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson...
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Children of Men exists strangely in the past, present and future all at once, a relic of the mid-aughts with alarming 2020s prescience and a 2027 setting.
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The film has enjoyed a critical resurgence in recent years, at least in part because of how prescient its depiction of an immigration-obsessed, post-apocalyptic Britain now looks.
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[Children of Men] has also proven to be the most prescient...
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External links
- Children of Men at IMDb
- Children of Men at Box Office Mojo
- Children of Men at Metacritic
- Children of Men at Rotten Tomatoes