Re: Children of Men

Wow, so... Children of Men. That was... wow. "Intense" might be the best, non-spoilery word to describe it. I would definitely say go see it; it's one of the best "visions of the future,” as they always say in the Movies Set in a Dystopian Future trailers (“FROM THE DIRECTOR OF [BLAH] COMES A VISION OF THE FUTURE LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE”), that I think I've ever seen in a movie--precisely because it looks like the present. Alfonso Cuarón takes images from today, the kind of chaos you see happening on CNN in someone else's country, and says it's happening now, but it's happening to you. It's 2027, but there's no lasers, no robots, no flying cars. Just 24-hour news channels and Starbucks and flip-flops. There's a few bits of "future" technology here and there, but they're mostly glossed over; the movie is mostly about the way the things we're doing right now, as nations, as people, is going to bite us in the ass if we don't open our eyes to what we're doing to each other. It's almost like there's two movies going on--a movie about a man drawn against his will into a journey to get a pregnant woman, perhaps the last pregnant woman, to safety, and a movie in the background, in the periphery and the corner of your eye, about human rights injustices--the shit that we're doing to each other--today. And in that respect, the movie pretty much doesn't pull any punches--Cuarón signals about half an hour in (and I'll get to that behind the cut) that this may be a movie but it's not going to play by the rules--the safe clichés and formulas we’re used to. No one is safe, because that's life. In conclusion: Go see it.

( SPOILERRRRRS )

Also, I can’t get rid of this nagging feeling that “children of men” is a famous phrase or a quotation of some sort, but I can’t place it, and searches aren’t turning anything up. Anyone? ETA: Ahhhh, Psalm 90. There we go. ETA: Okay, folks are coming up with multiple Biblical references. Interesting.