Children of Men: A Movie Review

by Terri Oshiro
10/29/07

Children of Men, a movie directed by Alfonso Cuaron is both stunning and disturbing. It portrays human renewal within the backdrop of decaying society and courage under violent oppression. P.D. James is the author of the book, Children of Men. According to Slavoj Zizek, philosopher and cultural critic, “He uses the themes of immigration and global warming to demonstrate the broader reality of the ideological condition of the despair of late Capitalism. He uses the condition of infertility to symbolize the meaningless history of Capitalism.” Children of Men is a harsh indictment of the globalization of Capitalism, the human suffering it causes, and the catastrophic direction we are headed in if we are not able to stop it. The film points to the political solution of curtailing globalized Capitalism, and the spiritual solution of human renewal.

The movie takes place in England in the year 2027. England is a police state reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Anarchy and mayhem are on the rise. The entire world mirrors these conditions. Environmental refugees are migrating from all over the world, escaping inequalities, atrocities, and war. Environmental collapse and the privatization of property in their homelands are forcing migration. In Britain, they are hunted, criminalized, and incarcerated. Scenes of the treatment of refugees resemble American slavery and the Holocaust. They are caged, lined up execution style, and stripped of their clothing like cattle. Native Englanders walk past the caged refugees as is they don’t see their suffering.

Bombings in the streets and countryside are common. Angry mobs pelt passerbys with rocks, and different militant groups are armed. The hopelessness of modern society is accentuated by the fact that no babies have been born for the last eighteen years. Children are absent throughout the world. Women are infertile because of environmental poisoning.

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