Children of Men

Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, is a film that illiterates a time where infertility has caused the the world to fall apart. It takes place in the UK or one of the only civilized country left in the world. Throughout the beginning we see lots of people in cages, being dragged around by police, or in transport buses; these people are the refugees that are trying to sneak into the UK. The story follows Theo Faron a former activist that has turned cynical. Theo meets Kee a young and PREGNANT refugee. His ex-wife Julian find him and tries to force him to help her get to the Human Project. Throughout the movie Kee and Theo encounter many obstacles on their way to freedom.

This movie was very symbolic. There were many small details that may have been looked over but are crucial to understand what is happening. During the entire movie we see animals. There are cows or dogs in many of the scenes. At first thought they are nothing. They just animals in the film like they are in any other film. But when thought about at length, why are there so many? Dogs have a shorter life span than humans. Wouldn't the dogs die in the eighteen years that there has been infertility in humans? The dogs show us that humans can't reproduce. Dogs are having puppies and cows are having calves. These animals are not infertile. There is always a human caring for a dog. In the opening scene, when there are people watching the news about the death of Baby Diego, there is a women holding a puppy in her arms. Because humans can't have children of their own their dogs are their children. They are protective and loving in a way they can't be with baby humans.

Along with the symbolism behind some aspects of the movie, the actaullu filming of the movie was amazing. There were scenes when the camera would linger in one point after the main characters would leave. These are interesting moments of the movie. Why would anyone want to watch something of no interest? Maybe because these moments have purpose. In the beginning when Theo is walking from the train, there are many refugees in a cage. He walks out of frame, but the camera is still on the cage of people. During this lull we can see all the different people trying to escape their nation. This shows us that the UK might be the only civilization left in the world that is able to function. Then there are scenes that are shot in one take. This technique is very hard. The set took five hours every time they wanted to reshoot something. In takes like these everything has to be in the right place at the right time and everyone has to be prepared to do exactly what was rehearsed.