Children of Men

I saw Children of Men yesterday. In advertisements, I've seen it described as a contemporary Bladerunner and I have to agree with the assessment. It's thought provoking with just the right amount of light to keep it from becoming to dark. We are shocked at how bleak the not-so-distant future in which women have mysteriously become infertile. The xenophobia in the UK is presented as a way of survival, yet it's not clear why people would want to live. That is until Clive Owen, a cynical drunk who's lost his son years earlier, finds himself the guardian of the first pregnant woman that the world has seen for almost twenty years.

Balancing the light and the dark is no small feat and it would be fun to watch the movie again to better understand how it was structured. There's the humour of Michael Caine's character as well as the dark wit of Clive Owens to sustain us until the baby is born. Then the audience like the soliders, refugees and terrorists finds themselves in awe of what is truly the miracle of life. In fact, I'd say this is the most pro-life of movies I can remember seeing.

There is more to be said about the movie, but I'm also intrigued by the movie's premise: What if there were no more children? What would happen to society if we thought that the human race had come to its end. Would we be able to create an "Art Ark" if we knew that in 100 years, there would be no one to appreciate it? Would we care how we treated the environment? Would we care about how we treated each other? Would we want to live?