Children of Men (2006)

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have become somehow infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

Director:

Alfonso Cuarón

Writers:

Alfonso Cuarón (screenplay), Timothy J. Sexton (screenplay)

Stars:

Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 48 wins & 76 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clive Owen	...	Theo Faron
Juan Gabriel Yacuzzi	...	Baby Diego (as Juan Yacuzzi)
Michael Caine	...	Jasper
Mishal Husain	...	Newsreader
Rob Curling	...	Newsreader
Chiwetel Ejiofor	...	Luke
Jon Chevalier	...	Café Customer
Julianne Moore	...	Julian
Rita Davies	...	Café Customer
Charlie Hunnam	...	Patric
Kim Fenton	...	Café Customer
Chris Gilbert	...	Café Customer
Phoebe Hawthorne	...	Café Customer
Rebecca Howard	...	Café Customer
Atalanta White	...	Café Customer (as Atlanta White)

Storyline

London, 2027. In this dystopian world, humans have been incapable of reproducing for eighteen years for an unknown reason, meaning the imminent extinction of the species. Britain is the one remaining civilized society on the planet, which has resulted in people wanting to immigrate there. As such, it has become a police state in order to handle the immigrants, who are placed into refugee camps. Lowly government bureaucrat Theo Faron, once an activist, is approached by the Fishes, deemed a terrorist group, led by his ex-wife Julian Taylor, who he has not seen in close to twenty years, their marriage which disintegrated following the death of their infant son Dylan during the 2008 flu pandemic. Although the Fishes did use terrorist means in their on-going revolution against the state in the fight for immigrant rights, Julian vows that they now garner support solely by speaking to the people. What she wants is for Theo to use his connections to get transit papers for a young immigrant ...

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Plot Keywords:

long take | england | fertility | neo noir | allegory | 

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Taglines:

The future's a thing of the past.

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, language, some drug use and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United States] UIP [Germany]

Country:

USA UK Japan

Language:

English German Italian Romanian Spanish Arabic Georgian Russian Serbian

Release Date:

5 January 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Niños del hombre

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Box Office

Budget:

$76,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,284,254 (United Kingdom), 24 September 2006, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$179,268, 24 December 2006

Gross USA:

$35,552,383

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$69,959,751

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Strike Entertainment, Hit & Run Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The computer used in Jasper's hideout to show the video feeds of intruders breaking in, is an Apple Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, released in 1997. In this movie it would be thirty years old.

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Goofs

When Theo first goes to visit Jasper, he gets off the train at the Alresford station. Alresford is northeast of London, near the city of Colchester in the county of Essex. All of the other locations which Theo later visits are to the southeast of London (Canterbury, Rye, and Bexhill) in the counties of Kent and East Sussex. It doesn't make sense that Theo, Kee, and Miriam would leave the Fishes' safe house and go past London to get to Alresford and then come back down to Rye before heading to Bexhill.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Newsreader: Day 1,000 of the Siege of Seattle.
Newsreader: The Muslim community demands an end to the Army's occupation of mosques.
Newsreader: The Homeland Security bill is ratified. After eight years, British borders will remain closed. The deportation of illegal immigrants will continue. Good morning. Our lead story.

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Crazy Credits

At the very end, one can read "Shanti, Shanti, Shanti" with children shouting and laughing on the soundtrack, which can be heard repeatedly throughout the end credits. This is the last line of T.S. Eliot's 1922 poem "The Wasteland." "Shanti" means "peace" in Sanskrit.

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Connections

Referenced in Astronauter og filmstjerner (2016)

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Soundtracks

There Is an Ocean
Written and Performed by Donovan (as Donovan Leitch)
(c) 1974 Donovan (Music) Ltd
Master courtesy of Donovan Discs

User Reviews

Carefully crafted piece of work

This year I attended for the first time the Venice Film Festival in Italy. I was of course quite excited and bought tickets to some screenings of a few different films I found interesting. Initially Children of Men wasn't in my plans but I was convinced by a friend who was very enthusiastic about it. Now I say I'm glad I bought the tickets! What an amazing film this is. The science fiction genre is just a coat to project into the future the horrors and problems of our current days and many films attempt that ending up, in most cases, failing. This one however succeeds. Succeeds indeed but not only in this... The film blew away nearly everyone in the audience as one of the best action movies we have seen lately, with extremely exciting and brutal chases, gun fights, etc. Don't be put off by this though, the film is as good as it is not because of the action sequences but its amazingly emotional and touching story. The performances of the cast is impressive especially Clive Owen and the newcomer Claire Hope Ashitey who throughout the film develop the relationship between their characters and it's such a joy to see the development. I'm not very good at writing reviews so I think I'll stop know, but I had at least to transmit something to everyone who might be interested in watching this film. Don't pass this one, you won't regret it. In my view one of the few excellent films released this year.