Michael Suarez
Director Alfonso Cuaron was coming off the success of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when he tackled an adaptation of P.D. James’ novel The Children of Men. A lot of speculative fiction, written, visual, or otherwise, predicts where the world is headed in the future, and in the case of Cuaron’s film, we’re looking at 2027. As I write this, that’s next year.
The film opens by throwing audiences into the world. A news report details the death of the world’s youngest person, and we soon find out that there hasn’t been a human born in nearly two decades. The future, as such, is a bleak one. Humanity seems on the brink of extinction, until it’s revealed, to a few, that there is a young woman named Kee who is pregnant. It becomes protagonist Theo’s responsibility to take this woman to the Human Project, where Kee and her child may very well hold the key to human survival.
As such, Children of Men is a thrilling road trip and chase film, with stand-out performances from the likes of Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Pam Ferris, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and newcomer (at the time) Clare-Hope Ashitey as Kee. The music is terrific, and yes, the cinematography by Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki is incredible, particularly the oners in the car during the film’s first third and during the firefight at the film’s climax. His work, along with Cuaron and editor Alex Rodriguez, garnered Academy Award nominations for cinematography and editing. Both were well deserved.
The film’s Best Adapted Screenplay option was also nominated, and this, too, was deserved, because the movie very much has Theo and company getting Kee to the Human Project. But it is about so much more. The politics inherent throughout the entire film, from the opening scene to the last, are clear: humanity, even at its twilight, seems destined to hurt and kill one another to the end. From the warring factions to both the government and criminals using and abusing refugees, Children of Men showed audiences a world that was coming, whether people became infertile or not. Twenty years later, it is devastating to see just how close we’ve come to the reality of the film.
Owen’s Theo and Moore’s Julian are former lovers who parted ways after the death of their son in 2008. Theo left the activism the two of them shared behind, while Julian soldiered on. When Julian finds Kee before the start of the film, she deduces that Theo is the only person she can trust to get the young woman to the Human Project. Unfortunately for her, she turns out to be correct, but thankfully, Theo has Ferris’ Miriam and Caine’s Jasper as help, as well as a kind woman during the film’s final stretch who does all she can to get Theo and Kee, as well as her baby, by then born, to safety.
In the future, again in 2027, the only people you can trust are those who have given themselves to other people. Theo was a father, but he loved Julian, so when she enters into his life again and she is killed, he takes it upon himself to finish what she started. Miriam was a midwife, and she clearly sees it as her duty to make sure she’s there for Kee, until she has to sacrifice herself for Kee later in the film. Jasper, meanwhile, was an activist as well, and though he spends his days taking care of his wife who was tortured by the government into a catatonic state, when the time comes to help Kee and Theo, he, too, sacrifices.
This feels right to me. Most of the time, I believe I have it in me to do what it takes to help someone, but the truth is, I don’t know if I could be relied on if the situation warranted it. What I know for certain, however, is that I would be there for someone close to me. I do believe I would sacrifice myself for my family, and I also believe that’s how it is for most people in 2026.
The government in the film, England to be specific, doesn’t seem interested in caring for anybody in the film. Order seems to be the most important thing, with law enforcement officials seemingly having a lot of power to not only capture and detain illegal immigrants and refugees but also to treat this group of people with violence and contempt. How was the world in 2006? Was it a common enough sight to see people arrested and put in cages and camps in a country like England or perhaps the United States?
In the film, it’s not uncommon to see cages on streets. It’d be untrue to suggest this has literally come to fruition. However, it has become common to see news of people in cages or being arrested in, frankly, violent ways. What’s interesting is that in the world of the film, humanity is on its way out. Everyone knows there’s no future, and yet a country like England concerns itself so much with order to the extent that though a wealthy segment of the population gets to live well, average citizens and immigrants are treated terribly.
What good is civilization if only a specific minority regularly benefits? In addition, what good is order when those given the power to achieve it are given so much power that they can do horrendous things to fellow human beings in the name of order? Laws are necessary to govern a society, but they must be followed by all, and they must never give too much power to anyone.
It’s always striking when a film addresses social and societal concerns indirectly so that one person’s experience, or the experience of a group of people, can become universal. If Roger Ebert is correct in that films are like empathy machines, then I understand why this works. Someone may choose not to identify with a specific “kind” of person, but it can be fairly easy to identify with a protagonist in a science-fiction chase movie with incredible visual effects and cinematography.
In this sense, I applaud Cuaron for making the best kind of science fiction. He and his writers saw where the world was going and anticipated just how bad things could really get. Thankfully, as of 2026, there is no worldwide infertility issue that will lead to the end of the human race, but Cuaron and company were smart to populate the film with more than just a world without children. This is a movie about the collapse of society and how those in power will do whatever it takes to hold onto this power, even as the world is seemingly coming to an end.
Those fighting against such regimes are no better, though. We have Julian’s activist group, who, it turns out, killed her because she didn’t want to use Kee for their cause. Julian wanted to do the right thing and take Kee to the Human Project so that perhaps the world of humankind would have a future. Her group wanted to show Kee to the world for their own benefit. Do I believe Luke and the rest of the group wanted to use Kee because in their eyes it was the right thing to do? I’m not so sure. They are a cold and violent group who have no qualms in killing innocent people if it means they are on the so-called right side of history.
So, if corrupt governments and those opposed to such fascist states offer no real future, then the Human Project must, yes? That’s the question. The film ends before Kee is taken aboard the ship that she and Theo have been scheduled to meet. Will Kee’s pregnancy and child hold the, dare I say, key to saving the world the way Julian believed it did? We don’t know. Julian died before she could know that, and Theo dies before I can confirm anything. It’s a bittersweet ending.
Of course, I don’t see a better one for the film. Children of Men is a dark movie, and although there are bright spots here and there and the occasional moment of levity (mostly involving Jasper), it begins dark and it ends dark. I don’t see why we need a happy ending when a hopeful one will do. We know that Kee and her child represent hope.
We see this in the way everyone who sees Kee’s pregnancy, and later her baby, reacts. They are also surprised, but there are moments of calm, peace, and happiness. I can picture Theo’s face when he first sees that Kee is pregnant. There’s Syd’s reaction, regardless of how monstrous that character ultimately is. Most importantly, there are the soldiers who literally stop firing their weapons as Theo, Kee, and her child leave that building near the film’s end. They are in awe, but we’re taken right back to reality when the fighting continues once they’re out of harm’s way.
There’s also an unsung character I mentioned earlier. Her name is Marichka, and she is an outright hero in the film’s final third. She is very much the reason Theo, Kee, and her child reach the Human Project, and she never once asks for anything in return. It’s a beautiful thing to watch her constantly help them while a battle rages around them. There is still decency in this world, and that decency comes from a refugee. That cannot be an accident on Cuaron’s part.
The world I live in, thankfully, is not exactly the world in Children of Men, but that was never going to happen. No film that speculates on the future gets it 100% correct, but I am devastated as to how close Cuaron and company came to showing life in 2027. Twenty years ago, I watched the film in theaters, mesmerized by the filmmaking and moved by the story and characters. Every time I’ve revisited it over the past two decades, I’ve recognized the real world in the world of the film.
Lately, it’s been fewer little details and more overt elements, like what I’ve talked about in this piece. I don’t know what to say about that. Unlike the world of the film, as much as I hear talk about it, the world is not coming to an end. The world, however, seems to be going past the point of no return, wherever that ultimately leads humanity. It does seem like those in power show no signs of relinquishing it. If anything, they seem to be holding on tighter and showing greater force in keeping order. Where does that leave us?
Is there hope? Well, here’s the thing. The ending to Children of Men involves a mother and her child, supported by people who believe in what that child can do for the future. I suppose that’s the kind of hope we should strive for. Yes, the younger generations are the hope, but it’s not all on them. They need the support of a Julian, a Theo, a Jasper, a Miriam, and a Marichka. Children of Men is a science fiction movie, and it must stay that way.
This film is a masterpiece and one of the best films of the century. Alfonso Cuarón has done great work since then, but I remain in awe of Children of Men. Yes, it is political and has a lot to say about the world, but it’s also incredibly well made and entertaining. To paraphrase the late Roger Ebert, Children of Men reminds us why we watch movies in the first place.
