Children of Men
George Orwell’s future-fascist classic Nineteen Eighty-Four was really about 1948, although it was published in 1949. Same goes for director Alfonso Cuaron’s destabilizing Children of Men: Although its enviropocalypse takes place in 2027, it is really about 2007, although it was released in 2006 and based on P.D. James’ 1992 novel.
Children of Men compressed increasing militarism, class warfare, indefinite terrorism and civic collapse into a too-near nightmare that can still keep you awake at night. And it did it without egregious CGI or high-cost FX, leaning heavily instead on the intelligence of its actors, especially Clive Owen, and its disturbing vision of a world nearly stripped bare of compassion and innocence.
Like director John Hillcoat and novelist Cormac McCarthy’s similarly crushing The Road, Children of Men’s banal apocalypse is a wake-up call in search of seeking minds…
This article appeared at Wired