100 Movies Every Catholic Should See #79: Children of Men (2006)

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine.

(Spoilers ahead)

Set in the dystopian future of 2027, Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 film Children of Men begins with bureaucrat Theo Faron (Clive Owen) in a crowded coffee shop learning on the news that the youngest person in the world, “Baby Diego”, has died at the age of 18 years, 4 months, 20 days, 16 hours, and 8 minutes. This is how the viewer first becomes aware of the infertility crisis that has struck humanity resulting in a world in chaos. Great Britain remains as the only functioning society left in the world, but has become a totalitarian state that executes or rounds up immigrants into refugee camps, forces its citizens into compulsory fertility tests, and sponsors an assisted-suicide kit called the Quietus. This bleak world provides the backdrop of a nativity story (of sorts) in which the miracle of life ignites the spark of hope that sets Theo and the rest of humanity on a path to salvation. 

Children of Men is a technical masterpiece with its remarkable world-building, several stunning one-shot scenes, tremendous score, and powerhouse acting performances. Cuarón’s film, taking its name from Psalm 90, is based on the P.D. James novel of the same name. Cuarón famously never actually read James’s novel which the author referred to as a “Christian fable.” While the differences from the book are abounding, Cuarón retains the heart of the story in its themes of despair, grace, and hope.  At its core, the film demonstrates the profound giftedness of human life and how self-sacrifice is the only avenue of authentic living. 

The first act of the film immerses the viewer in Theo’s world moving about his repetitive, meaningless, alcohol-sedated life. Through subtle exposition, Cuarón does a masterful job of showing how bleak and sinister the world has become and the different groups of people who inhabit it. The wealthy few live in comfort and excess, the middle-class are bombarded with state-sponsored pornography shops and advertisements for the “peaceful” ending of their own lives, and the immigrants (referred to as “fugees”) are rounded up into cages to be transported away. A militant fugee rights group called the Fishes, led by Theo’s ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), kidnap Theo in the hope that he can use his government connections to provide the transit papers necessary for a particular fugee named Kee (Clare Hope-Ashitey). Theo reluctantly agrees, but only out of the selfish motivation for a nice payday, and the trio set out accompanied by Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Miriam (Pam Ferris). In a several minute long “one-shot” heart pounding scene the crew are ambushed by an armed gang and Julian is killed. After fleeing to a safehouse, Kee, notably in a barn, reveals to Theo that she is, beyond belief, pregnant. This miracle begins an awakening in Theo that is pushed into action once he discovers that Luke, the newly elected leader of the Fishes, orchestrated the hit on Julian and wants to use Kee’s baby as a political tool to overthrow the British government. In a second nerve-wracking scene, Theo leads Kee and Miriam, who is revealed to have been a midwife, away from the clutches of the Fishes. They seek shelter with Theo’s old hippie friend, Jasper (Michael Caine), where we learn that Theo and Julian had a young son named Dylan. Dylan’s tragic early death resulted in the end of their marriage and sent Theo into his unfulfilling, nihilistic state at the beginning of the film. 

The film finally provides a short bit of respite at Jasper’s where a plan is hatched to smuggle Kee into the refugee camp where they will hopefully be able to rendezvous with a boat from the near mythical group known as the Human Project. Just as Cuarón doesn’t attempt to provide exposition to explain the infertility crisis, he leaves the Human Project intentionally vague as it serves as a metaphor of hope for the future. The tragedy, however, is unrelenting for Theo as Luke and the Fishes discover their hideout, forcing them to flee as Jasper is killed trying to buy them more time. Theo has no time to grieve the loss of the two closest companions he has had in his life, but he doesn’t collapse in on himself at this most despairing of times. Instead, he responds with courage and selflessness to continue his protection and guidance of Kee into unknown and dangerous situations. The group successfully manage their way into the refugee camp, but Kee quickly goes into labor. Miriam is mercilessly taken away by guards as she provides a distraction by hysterically calling upon the angel Gabriel to deliver them, and Theo is left alone as the sole guardian for Kee and her baby. The pair find a mercifully private room in the camp that may even make the humble birthplace of Jesus seem preferable, and Theo, using his remaining alcohol,  as a disinfectant, successfully delivers a baby girl. 

The next morning the Fishes break into the refugee camp, sparking an uprising that is met with the brutal force of the British military. Luke successfully discovers Kee and her baby and takes them away to help further his political goals. What unfolds next in the climax of the film is an unrelenting sequence, much of which unfolds as a harrowing, continuous scene, in which Theo desperately attempts to track down and save Kee and her baby amidst the raging battle. When he finds them, Theo corrects Luke on the sex of the baby, momentarily shocking him and, for the first time, bringing him out of himself and his own schemes. Theo then escorts Kee and the now crying baby through the carnage around them as the beautiful Fragments of a Prayer score by John Tavener plays. Despite the cavalcade of noise, the piercing cries of the miraculous baby slowly capture the attention of innocent bystanders and combatants alike. Theo, very much as a portrait of St. Joseph, guides mother and child through the awed crowd, bringing some soldiers to their knees and others to make the Sign of the Cross. Once safe on a rowboat, hoping to meet the vessel for the Human Project, Theo touchingly teaches Kee how to burp her baby before it is revealed that he is seriously wounded from a gunshot. In a cathartic moment, Kee tells Theo that she is naming the baby Dylan after his son. His mission fulfilled, Theo succumbs to his wound, and the film ends to the sounds of children playing as their rowboat is spotted by the ship from the Human Project. 

The character arc of Theo in Children of Men is worthy of reflection for our own lives. The miraculous new life of the film serves as a breakthrough of grace in Theo’s life, and we find him learning to cooperate with this grace even to the point of total self-abandonment and sacrifice. Doing so, Theo finally achieves true peace and actual happiness for the first time. The Incarnation can similarly serve as a breakthrough of grace in our own lives. If we cooperate with God’s grace, becoming Christlike as Theo does, we will see hope in the face of suffering and have the fortitude to do the hard work of truly loving others. This radical call to break out of a self-medicated life totally absorbed in itself must be answered in a similar way as Theo to lead to authentic living. 

Another point of reflection that Children of Men inspires is on the nature of human life as a gift. The dystopian future of the film can very much be viewed as a mirror for us as it pertains to how we view children, the elderly, and the migrant. In the novel, James is extremely prescient about how we view the elderly and burdensome when it comes to assisted-suicide. Cuarón’s emphasis, no doubt, is specifically calling for an examination of how we view the humanity of the foreigner and migrant. This is a noble cause, as we see the call to care for the sojourner repeated often throughout the Bible. More in the subtext of the film, though, is a call to reexamine how we view children. Through the widespread use of artificial birth control and the pervasiveness of abortion on demand in much of our world, we have lost our sense of wonder at the miracle of life. Many of the social and economic structures of society supporting this contraceptive mindset lead us to the view of children as a commodity that we pursue on our own terms as if checking off an item on a check-list. However, the givenness of the sex of the baby is still something outside our control and calls us out of a control-mindset just as it does briefly for Luke in the film. This control-mindset is a tremendous break from the biblical worldview that sees all of creation, and specifically human life, as a generous gift given to us by God. Children of Men provides us with a helpful look at what a childless world can become. Without the need to discipline ourselves, putting the needs of children or any other needy person ahead of ourselves, we quickly become self-absorbed and forget God. Viewing every human life, no matter its age, ability, or circumstances as a breakthrough of grace calls us out of this path, reminding us of our own giftedness from God and leading us into holy and loving relationships with others. 

Children of Men is certainly a difficult movie to watch, but it is a rewarding one. The despair induced by the world Cuarón brings to life is excessive, but so also is the hope found there. In the character of Theo, we find a helpful mirror for our own lives. Are we as Theo is in the beginning of the film, meandering without purpose and completely self-absorbed? Or rather, as he becomes by the end, willing to lay his life down in the service of others? The difference in the two versions of Theo and of ourselves is the acceptance of and cooperation with a breakthrough of grace. For Theo this comes in the form of Kee’s miraculous child. For those of us who are parents, it may come in the birth of our own children, but fundamentally for us all it can be found in the Incarnation. Furthermore, Children of Men reteaches us what we all instinctively know, but have either rationalized away or forgotten, that human life is a precious gift and a tremendous cause for hope. 

Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest and to destruction; again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. (Psalm 90:1-3).