Details: 2006, UK/USA/Rest of the world, Drama/Adventure/Thriller/Sci-fi, cert 15, 114 mins, Dir: Alfonso Cuarón
With: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine
Summary: London, 2027. The last human child was born 18 years ago and amid a race war, humankind's survival depends on protecting a woman who has become miraculously pregnant. (source material: novel by P.D. James)
I've anticipated this film since I read Guardian UK film reviewer, Peter Bradshaw's comment on it back in early September. In the opening paragraphs he references Barry Hines' "Threads" and the 70s TV programme "Survivors" (not to mention Roy Andersson's "Songs of the Seventh Floor")-- two of the more frightening and realistic interpretations of a post-apocalyptic future. The look and the content of "The Children of Men" are certainly bracing enough, as a depiction of present fears of society. Phillip French, in his review goes on to recall Volker Schlondorff's vision of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale", as scripted by Nobel laureate Harold Pinter. This can only be a good sign. I've been waiting for a film like this for quite a while. Something that will contextualize the direction Western society may go if current policies maintain. The only thing that's been out there apart from the many documentaries analyzing the problem, are torture films.
Official Sites: UK US
The US release date is December 25, 2006.
UPDATE:
Wesley Morris wrote an excellent review in the Boston Globe.
J. Hoberman has thisto say.
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Further reading on apocalyptic films should include the genius that is Kim Newman's book "Millenium Movies: End of the World Cinema".
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