Children of Men (2006, UK/US)

In director Alfonso Cuarón's bleak but visually-brilliant, apocalyptic science-fiction chase-thriller (and action film) - it was both a cautionary tale and a prolonged, dystopic, Orwellian end-of-days road movie. Based upon P.D. James' 1992 novel The Children of Men, the intense futuristic drama told about a chaotic society (set mostly in London, England in the year 2027) with a fascist dictator where human fertility and reproduction had become impossible for most of the previous two decades, and life was soon approaching extinction. The only stable indicator in the world was that animals were still able to reproduce, and were plentiful in the population.

The film was masterfully shot by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's fluid camera, with long and extended takes in numerous action sequences, and views of the gray, joyless and bombed-out environment. It received three Academy Award nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. On a budget of $76 million, it made $35.6 million (domestic) and $70.6 million (worldwide).

The only civilized society left in the world was in England, where in the midst of anarchy and civil war, it was collapsing after two decades of human infertility (although there was no reason given for the epidemic); the UK was suffering from an influx of asylum seekers and refugees who were fleeing from massive chaos and dysfunction in other countries; it had ruled that the British borders would remain closed, and the deportation of illegal immigrants would continue. The harsh totalitarian British government had become a militarized police state on the verge of anarchy and collapse, cracking down on the wave of illegal immigrants (and caging them on street corners before deportation), and paranoid about threats of terrorism. Depressed individuals in society were encouraged to escape the present by committing suicide with a government-sanctioned drug (Quietus) in suicide-kits.

The film's themes were resonant with prescient concerns: anti-immigrant and sectarian violence and sentiment, fertility, and gov't-assisted suicide. The film's tagline was succinct and direct: "In 20 years, women are infertile. No children. No future. No hope. But all that can change in a heartbeat." It highlighted that the film's "MacGuffin" was the hope that conceiving and bearing children might one day be possible again.

• during the opening title credits, a TV Newsreader (Rob Curling) announced (in voice-over): "After eight years, British borders will remain closed. The deportation of illegal immigrants will continue. Good morning. Our lead story"
• another indication of the demise of the dystopic civilization was delivered by a TV Reporter (Lucy Briers), viewed on a screen in a crowded coffee-shop; she told about the planet's youngest inhabitant, Argentinian "Baby" Diego (Juan Gabriel Yacuzzi), at the age of 18, who had refused to sign an autograph in Buenos Aires, and was stabbed to death in the ensuing brawl; the male announcer claimed it was "a tragic reminder of the 18 years of infertility that humanity has endured and its effect upon the world we now live in"
• in the opening scene set in London on November 16, 2027, middle-aged, white-collar government bureaucrat and civil servant Theodore "Theo" Faron (Clive Owen) had just ordered a coffee; outside, alcoholic Theo briefly paused on the street to add a shot of booze to his cup while on his way to work on London's Fleet Street in fascist-run, terrorist-riddled England; near him in the coffee shop, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive charge; alarms went off and people screamed (it was the second bombing in a month)
• after entering his place of work at the Ministry of Energy, the disillusioned, cynical, ex-peace activist Theo noticed many fellow female employees sobbing at their desks with the most recent TV news; the TV Newsreader's narration continued, stating how Diego was "a tragic reminder of the 18 years of infertility that humanity has endured and its effect upon the world we now live in"
• Theo was granted the day off to work remotely from home, and as he rode on the train, the chaotic world was revealed through more TV screens: ("The World Has Collapsed" and "Only Britain Soldiers On"); graffiti-covered billboards, homeless encampments, and trash lined the train tracks, and hoodlums threw rocks at his passing train with protective screens on the windows; after exiting the train, he noticed rounded-up immigrants caged on the train platform and guarded by heavily-armed police officers

• Theo met up with his good and trusted friend Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine) - a long-haired, dope-smoking aging hippie; Jasper and his wife lived in a secluded house; on the drive to his hidden-in-the-woods home with Theo, Jasper observed that the government was probably responsible for the bombing, not terrorists; atypical of many in Britain, Theo wasn't very upset by the news concerning "Baby Diego": ("Come on, the guy was a wanker!"); they watched as a busload of illegal immigrants ("fugees") passed them, to be transported to a refugee camp in the coastal seaside town of Bexhill (in East Sussex County): Jasper: "Illegal immigrants. Taking them to Bexhill. Poor fugees. After escaping the worst atrocities and finally making it to England, our government hunts them down like cockroaches"
• as they entered Jasper's "off-the-grid" remote house, a pan of Jasper's living room (with displays of scrapbook and newspaper clippings) revealed that he was an ex-political cartoonist, and lived with his ex-activist wife Janice (Philippa Urquhart), a photo-journalist who had been tortured into catatonia; Jasper called Theo a "rebel with a lost cause"; a photograph from many years earlier pictured Theo with his estranged wife and son; Jasper mentioned how "Daddy government hands out suicide kits and anti-depressants in the rations," and that he was a weed-selling drug dealer (who personally enjoyed strawberry-flavored weed), who sold most of his drugs to an immigrant-cop friend in Bexhill who smuggled and sold the pot to the imprisoned immigrants
• Theo pessimistically downplayed an alleged organization known as the Human Project that was attempting to find the cure for infertility: ("Why do people believe this crap?...Even if they discovered the cure for infertility, it doesn't matter. Too late. World went to s--t. Know what? It was too late before the infertility thing happened, for f--k's sake"); Jasper also was uncertain about the Human Project's scientists who were "tossing around theories about the ultimate mystery - Why are women infertile? Why can't we make babies anymore?"; their guesses included "genetic experiments, gamma rays, pollution. Same old, same old"
• back in London the next day, Theo found himself kidnapped (and blindfolded) and driven off in a van by an underground, insurgent guerrilla-rebel group known as the "Fishes" (a religiously-symbolic name), a group blamed for the recent bombing; he was taken to their a secret hideout (in an abandoned train station's news stand), and shocked to meet up with his strong-willed, revolutionary, anti-government activist estranged wife Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore); the idealistic Julian had become the intelligent and practical leader of the group, interested in protecting immigrants and saving the human race, while battling establishment-government forces

Theo Kidnapped by the "Fishes" - His Estranged Wife Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore) Was the Leader of the Revolutionary Group

• Theo was enlisted (for a payment of 5,000 pounds) by her and the "Fishes" to obtain transit papers for a young, frightened West African refugee named Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) (short for refugee), to take her to a refugee camp on the coast at Bexhill; Julian suggested that he obtain a transit pass from his gov't minister cousin Nigel (Danny Huston) in the Ministry of Arts, a government agency responsible for salvaging various invaluable artworks; Theo bluntly refused but was urged by "Fishes" member Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor) that if he changed his mind, he should notify them
• a group known as the "Repenters" was seen on a street-corner, wearing yellow coats with the label "REPENT" on the front - the members believed that sinful humanity was suffering due to God's wrath: "Earthquakes! Pollution! Disease and famine! Our sins have encouraged God's wrath! And in his anger he has taken away his most precious gift to us!"; followers held or displayed signs reading: "The Faithless Have Made Us Barren," "Salvation is Not Coming," "Infertility is God's Punishment," and "Doom is Eternal For the Sinner"
• Theo was chauffeured into the Ministry of Arts' high-security building (an old art museum) to meet with his wealthy cousin and art-collector Nigel, who greeted him standing before a statue of Michelangelo's David; after a meal served with wine in front of Picasso's political painting of Guernica, Theo was asked the reason for a meeting; Theo made up a fabricated story (he claimed that his new girlfriend needed transit papers for her terminally-ill brother in Brighton)

Theo with Nigel in the Ministry of Arts, to Request Transit Papers

• Theo was able to to acquire "joint transit papers" that required him to accompany the refugee girl on her trip through security checkpoints to the coast; in a bar, he informed Luke that he would help escort and transport Kee out of London to safety, for a "couple more grand"; he also met again with Julian in the top of a double-decker bus, and gave her the transit papers; Theo had been estranged from Julian since 2008 (for almost 20 years) after the death of their infant son Dylan; she still mourned their son's death and was reminded of him: "It's hard for me to look at you. He had your eyes"; they had a slight argument before she told him that she had chosen him because she trusted him; he asked what would happen to their relationship after the job: ("What happens to us?"), and when she answered that she didn't know, she also gave him a brief kiss
• in a vehicle, Theo joined ex-midwife/nurse Miriam (Pam Ferris), African refugee Kee, Julian, and driver Luke for the car journey; Kee was to be taken to the south-eastern coast of England to the first checkpoint at Canterbury, and then on to rendezvous with the secretive, utopian organization known as The Human Project; Theo remained dubious that the Human Project group, working on a cure for human infertility, even existed

Nurse Miriam (Pam Ferris)	Refugee Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey)
"Fishes" Leader Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore)	Driver Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor)

• the group was forced to make a long and heroic journey to the coast to protect Kee; the trip was filmed with a hand-held, documentary-styled camera and POV angles from inside the vehicle; along the way, their vehicle was terrifyingly ambushed (filmed in a long unbroken sequence) by a flaming vehicle blocking the roadway; an armed gang with some on motorcycles appeared from the hillside and attacked the vehicle from all sides with sticks, rocks, and molotov cocktails; one of the men on a motorcycle fired through the windshield and Julian was hit in the neck and she died shortly thereafter; as they fled and attempted to drive away, they were pursued by a police squad car, and Luke was forced to kill two police officers who stopped them at gun point and threatened to question them; they laid Julian's body to rest in the woods

Julian Taylor's (Julianne Moore) Death During the Ambush

• the remaining group members fled to a "Fishes" safe-house, a working dairy and farmhouse, where a new leader was being voted upon; in a barn, Kee told Theo that she only trusted him (based upon Julian's word) to help take her to an offshore hospital ship known as Tomorrow; in the film's delayed reveal, Kee showed Theo her extended pregnant belly; Kee was eight-months-pregnant, and the last-known mother-to-be refugee (hers was the first pregnancy in the world in about 18 years, a Virgin Mary moment); she begged him: "I'm scared. Please help me"; Theo gradually became dedicated to her as her personal protector

Kee's Reveal to Theo That She Was Miraculously 8 Months Pregnant

• according to a TV newscast, after the killing of the "Fishes" terrorist leader, the four survivors from the ambush were now wanted fugitives and considered terrorists: ("Four other terrorists escaped after murdering two officers. Police say they have sufficient forensic and surveillance evidence to identify the four killers. All suspects should be considered armed and extremely dangerous"); the "Fishes" realized that they couldn't trust the government if they revealed Kee's pregnancy: ("We all know this government would never acknowledge the first human birth in 18 years from a fugee. A wanted fugee"); Luke urged Kee to remain at the farmhouse and have her child, and afterwards, they would somehow get her to the Human Project - and she agreed
• however, later that night, Theo learned about the Fishes' nefarious intentions; he overheard conversations that revealed Julian's death had been orchestrated and that Luke had planned to oust her and become their new leader, who then intended to use Kee's baby as a political tool; it now split the divisive factions into three: the government, the "Fishes," and Theo's group
• due to these suspicious findings and the new threat, Theo decided to make a bold move to escape: ("They killed Julian. They're gonna kill me. We have to leave. We have to go now"); at dawn, Theo, Kee, and Miriam were forced to make a thrilling and daring escape from the 'safe house' when Theo attempted to jump-start a stolen vehicle by pushing it and coasting it downhill; they were pursued, but the Fishes did not open fire fearing they would hit Kee
• the group relocated and sought refuge in Jasper's secluded house outside London; they found Jasper and his wife Janice appearing dead, but they were only unconscious after ingesting a home-made drug concoction; during a meal, Miriam explained how the Tomorrow was a hospital ship disguised as a fishing boat that would take them to the "sanctuary" headquarters of the Human Project in the Azores (Portugal); there was only a short window in two days' time to rendezvous with the ship off the Bexhill coast; Jasper was thrilled: "Kee, your baby is the miracle the whole world has been waiting for," and he hoped to assist them
• during a discussion with Kee, Theo asked for the identity of the father; Kee at first claimed: "I'm a virgin," but then admitted: "F--k knows. I don't know most of the wankers' names"; she was uncertain about her pregnancy but was overwhelmed: "I feel it. Little bastard was alive. And I feel it. And me, too. I am alive"
• Jasper arranged for his friend - refugee camp guard and unstable immigration-cop Syd (Peter Mullan), to smuggle them into the refugee camp in the seaside town of Bexhill; shortly later in Jasper's living room, Kee saw the photograph of Theo with Julian and their son Dylan ("a magical child"), and asked Jasper about it; she and Miriam were told that Theo's young boy died during the 2008 flu pandemic and it was the one thing that had held Theo and Julian together: ("Theo's faith lost out to chance"); Kee exclaimed: "Baby's got Theo's eyes"
• when an alarm sounded, the group was again forced to flee from the "Fishes," but Jasper opted to stay behind to provide cover for them and stall the pursuit; from a distance, Theo watched as Luke and the turncoat Fishes activists heartlessly killed him with three point-blank gunshots outside his home; Jasper was executed (he had earlier euthanized his catatonic wife inside the house with a Quietus suicide-kit) after he offered his "pull my finger" joke to Luke
• on the way to Bexhill, the fugitive-on-the-run group stopped at the Hillside Primary School, an old abandoned schoolhouse on Watchbell Road in Rye, adorned with children's colorful paintings on the exterior and interior walls; Theo was startled by a deer that had entered an empty hallway and knocked furniture around; as Kee sang to herself on a swing-set, Miriam described her discontinued work as a midwife: "Very odd what happens in a world without children's voices. I was there at the end"; Theo encouragingly told her: "Now you're gonna be there at the beginning"

Theo Again on the Run with Miriam and Kee

Colorful Paintings on the Walls of Abandoned Primary School

• the threesome met up with Jasper's friend Syd - a threatening immigration cop who revealed his identity when Theo gave him Jasper's code-phrase: "Fascist pig!"; the group (pretending to be arrested prisoners) were taken by Syd in his cop-car to Bexhill, and put on a Homeland Security bus, and then transported into the Bexhill Refugee Camp; the countryside was in the midst of a brutal civil war between the British troops and the refugees
• by this time, Kee was beginning to feel a series of labor contractions, and her 'water broke' as they entered the overcrowded camp; on the bus, Miriam acted crazy to distract the guards from Kee's true condition, and she was forcibly separated from Theo and Kee; as Syd had directed them, the two were released into the camp and met up with a Romani gypsy woman named Marichka (Oana Pellea); she drove them on a bike cart to a dirty and crumbling Bexhill apartment building in the Refugee Camp and internment center area, to provide them with a place to stay for the night
• in an unbroken, amazing, single-shot sequence in a bare, dark, and cold room with only a mattress, Theo was compelled (due to Miriam's absence) to assist Kee, who was suffering agonizing pains during the birth of her baby girl - the infant was delivered alive and breathing

Theo Assisting in Kee's Birth Sequence

• the next morning, Syd arrived with Marichka, warning that war had broken out between the British army and the refugees, including the Fishes; he told them that the British army was going to blow up Bexhill, and claimed that he was there to help them: ("Syd is here to get you out"); after the shock of seeing a newborn, Syd promised to get them a boat, but Marichka resisted and kept pointing at Syd, calling him: "Bad, bad, bad!"; at gunpoint, turncoat Syd admitted to taking advantage of the large reward placed on Theo and Kee, but his attempt to lead them away and turn them in failed when Marichka retaliated against Syd and repeatedly bashed him with a hammer; as she helped to smuggle them out of the building, Theo also knocked Syd unconscious; Marichka safely led them away through a mob of people during the widespread refugee uprising against the British Army
• they were assisted by Marichka's elderly friends in a second apartment (within a converted bank building) in Bexhill, but before they could get to the boat on the coast, they were again ambushed by Luke and a group of "Fishes"; he took Kee (and her baby) away with him to use her as an inspiration for the rebel fugee conflict: ("It's the Uprising. And they haven't even seen the baby"); after Luke and his gang left with Kee and her baby, a brief gun skirmish enabled Theo and Marichka to get away
• in the midst of a bloody siege and uprising (filmed continuously with a hand-held camera), Theo searched for Kee and came to her rescue (he located her by the unique sounds of her crying baby) on the upper floor of a bombed-out Bexhill apartment building; just before Luke was killed by an explosive tank blast, he shot at and wounded Theo, but he and Kee (with her baby) were unharmed

Cleared Pathway For the Baby Down the Stairs and Through the Troops

• the film's most magical moment came when Theo and Kee descended the building's stairs - and the British Army soldiers and other stunned combatants stood back momentarily in quiet and peaceful awe of the baby, enabling them a cleared pathway to get out during a brief ceasefire: ("Cease firing! We've got two coming through, coming out"); they met up with Marichka who led them to a boat in a sewer, but she declined to depart with them
• in the film's exciting (and hopeful) open-ended conclusion, after surviving so many obstacles, challenges and skirmishes, Theo was able to row them in the boat toward a buoy for their rendezvous at sunset; they feared that they were too late, as the British Royal Air Force's fighter jets flew over them and decimated the camp at Bexhill with bombing strikes; Theo was bleeding profusely, and revealed to Kee that he had been lethally-wounded earlier by Luke; he had redemptively sacrificed himself for her even though at first, it wasn't his fight to make

Kee With Her Baby in Rowboat	Rendezvous Point - Buoy at Sunset	RAF Fighter Jets Bomb Bexhill in Distance
Theo Bleeding Profusely, and Soon Slumping Over	Kee: "I'll call my baby Dylan..."	The Appearance of Tomorrow in the Dense Fog

• Kee promised to name her baby girl after Theo's son Dylan: ("I'll call my baby Dylan. It's a girl's name, too"), just before Theo slumped over in the rowboat and lost consciousness; at that same moment as he died and Kee was singing a lullaby, they reached the buoy rendezvous point with the Human Project's ship Tomorrow's appearance in the fog (symbolic of Noah's Ark that would preserve life); the film ended with an excited Kee's last line of dialogue: "Theo, the boat. The boat! It's OK. We are safe now. We're safe"