Children of Men

18 years of infertility has caused civilization to collapse. The only functional government that still existed was the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom had been raging war with refugees who violate the government’s immigration laws. Theo Faron (Clive Owen) a normal working civilian was kidnapped by the Fishes, an underground band of rebels. Theo agrees to aid them after he is persuaded by a large sum of money. The group needed transit papers for a young refugee named Kee Miriam (Clare-Hope Ashitey); Theo was able to obtain these papers from his cousin, who works as a government minister. Though Theo was reluctant he agreed to escort Kee to the coast, along with Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore) his former wife, a member of the organization, Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor) a leader of the Fishes rebellion, and Miriam (Pam Ferris) a trusted friend of Kee. Unfortunately they were unable to reach their destination after being ambushed by an armed group. Kee reveals to Theo that she is pregnant, and pleads Theo to stay until the baby is save. Theo realizes that the ambushed was staged by Luke who desires to use the baby as a political tool to aid the revolution. Immediately Theo alerts Kee and Miriam the untold plan Luke has secretly orchestrated. Theo, Miriam, and Kee escape by stealing one of their cars, then driving to Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine) house, a friend of Theo.  From this scene on it’s a journey to located the human project; there is limited information on what the human project actually is, although we can assume it’s an organization of people who are striving to preserve the human race.

It was interesting how society without order, results in complete agony chaos. That humankind has the tenuous to separate into individual groups rather than be united. I believe the reason for this is clearly explained in the film, humans instinctively want to survive and will undergo any circumstance that will allow them to accomplish this. In Children of Men, war was accepted as a normal part of life. Infertility had devastated society; people saw life to hold no true value. The film did a remarkable job showing that humanity can be restored from a baby being born. Throughout the film Kee was hesitant in publicizing her baby, for the free of the unknown. However, when people saw her baby optimism was regenerated in their lives. One of my favorite scenes of the film was when Theo is reunited with Kee, by alluring to the sound of her baby crying in the midst of an ongoing battle. Then everyone in the building starts gravitating towards the sound of her baby, and both sides stop shooting. It’s significant why the fighting stop I believe it’s because the absent of hope had been restored in each person.

I relished the final scene of Children of Men. When Theo and Kee are in the rowboat relieved that they had made it, then Theo express to Kee that he has been fatally shot. This twist in the plot intensifies the film. Kee reacts to the condition by changing her baby's name to Dylan, Theo’s son’s name. Theo dies in happiness knowing that his life has benefited civilization. Immediately when Theo dies a ship emerges from the fog named tomorrow. This was a great way to end the film, for you can infer that Kee and her baby safely made it to the human project. It was also interesting how her baby was a girl, I believe this was done intentionally because a woman bares children and having a girl baby symbolizes growth.