When Alfonso Cauron’s Children of Men premiered in 2006, the film was a commercial flop. The film originally premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a standing ovation from critics, but by the time it had its wide release on Christmas Day, the near-future dystopian tale failed to attract audiences, making less than $70 million at the box office against a budget of $76 million.
Perhaps it was the bleak subject on Christmas Day, or the fact that the studio was busy marketing Oscar bait like United 93, but either way, the experience was frustrating for director Alfonso Cuarón, who retreated from public life and told Vulture that he endured “the five most intense and difficult years of my life.” Thankfully, the Mexican director came back with a bang, as Gravity became a commercial and critical success in 2013.
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But looking back, Children of Men has absolutely stood the test of time, as its subject and lessons have became even more important in our contemporary times. Today, it is one of the most highly-regarded films of the 21st century, and in 2016 was even voted the 13th best film of the 21st century by critics from around the world. But what makes Children of Men such an important and excellent film? Let’s go over a few reasons why Children of Men is one of the best sci-fi movies of the past 20 years:
Prescient Premise
Universal Pictures
Co-written by Cuaron and based off The Children of Men (P.D. James’ 1992 novel) the film is set in a near-future dystopia where humans have become unable to procreate. At the beginning of the film, Diego, the youngest person alive, is murdered by a rabid fan, which quickly helps to set the scene: chaos, terrorist violence, and poverty have taken over the world. But there is a glimmer of hope. For the first time in decades, a woman has become pregnant, and it us up to Theo, a cynical and nihilistic civil servant played by Clive Owen, to lead her to safety.
Set in the United Kingdom, the film shows deteriorating cities and a massive refugee crisis that has turned Britain into a xenophobic and authoritarian society. In hindsight, the film seems to have predicted a lot of political events to come, like Brexit and the election of Donald Trump; Cuaron has commented, though, that the film was not necessarily ahead of its time, it was just paying attention to issues of the time. He told Vulture he was reading about refugees, know-nothing reactionaries, and eerie disruptions in biological processes during the early ‘00s. The point of Children of Men is that most things we consider as “dystopian” are in fact already happening to underprivileged communities today.
Subversion of Sci-Fi Tropes
Children of Men might be set in the future, but it always has a foot in the present. Apart from taking into consideration contemporary issues, the film is also visually gritty, washed-out, rundown, and even dirty in a way that resembles historical dramas and not sci-fi films. The film shies away from showing speculative technological advancements in the way that classic sci-fi films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. Whereas most futuristic films show the future as sleek, clean and minimalist, the interior spaces and wardrobe in Children of Men are claustrophobic and cluttered.
The film seems to suggest that the future will look more like the present than we realize. It also subverts the tropes of traditional narrative cinema where the heroes make it unscathed through chaos. No one is safe in this movie as some of the biggest stars in the cast are suddenly killed early in the story. The film plays with our expectations and leaves us on the edge of our seats for its entire duration.
Daring Cinematography
The most impressive aspect of Children of Men is the craftsmanship and technical ability with which it was made, its cinematography being the most salient example. Shot by the great Emmanuel Lubezki, the film features some of the most majestic and riveting long-takes in film history. In order to increase viewer anxiety and make action scenes even more tense, the director and cinematographer decided to shoot the film using single-shot tracking sequences without any cuts.
For example, in a scene that lasts 247 seconds, we see the main characters driving through the countryside when they’re suddenly attacked while the camera moves and swivels in a 360-degree range of motion that show us all the players in the incredible action sequence while mimicking the dynamism of the events. Children of Men is particularly scary because it is so immersive, the camera moves around like a human would, and it does not give us any breaks from the drama.
Yet the most famous scene in the film is a staggering 379-second long sequence where Theo races through the refugee camp dodging gunmen and tanks. The scene was so complicated to film that it took 14 days of rehearsal before they even started shooting. Whenever the camera isn’t moving around in amazingly balletic ways, Cuaron and Lubezki employ wide shots with depth of field so that the frame is filled with small details that are central to the story. Whether it is advertisements in the street or a floating pig balloon, the film is a masterclass in how to show and not tell. It is by far one of the most beautifully and smartly shot films of the 21st century.
Top Tier Performances
Children of Men also has some incredibly talented performers. Clive Owen leads the film with a great combination of cynicism and gravitas; he clearly shows us the character’s arc from hopelessness to hope, and manages to be both melancholic and inspiring. Similarly, the Oscar-winning Julianne Moore excels in every scene that she is in, portraying a hardened but caring activist who is trying to change the world. Michael Caine, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Charlie Hunnam, and Chiwetel Ejiofor round up the rest of the cast with fantastic supporting performances that complement the bleakness of the film.
While it may be bleak, it also offers a glimmer of well-earned hope at the end of the struggle, a hope that, like this film, may be more than humanity deserves.
