APOCALYPSE TOMORROW
Children of Men portrays a frightening vision of a government-run future
BY JARRET KEENE
It’s been great year for Libertarian-minded cinema with the DVD releases of soon-to-be classics like The Pursuit of Happyness, Apocalypto and Children of Men. The latter has been available for purchase and in rental stores since April, but only recently have previously viewed copies been popping up amidst the shelves of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. Indeed, those “2 for $20” deals are extremely attractive in the summer months, when returning films to the store takes a prominent back seat to grilling steaks and sunbathing poolside.
Children of Men isn’t a fun summer flick, but rather a doom-laden adventure film reminding us what could very well happen in the next few decades should freedom-loving folks surrender even more Constitutional rights to a tax-gorged government that promises to protect us and yet consistently ends up endangering our lives to an even greater degree.
Based on the novel by P.D. James, Children of Men is sometimes held up by liberal film critics as an example of the pathology an anti-illegal immigration stance engenders in the form of government-sanctioned ethnic cleansing. But this film, directed by Alfonso Cuaron (Y tu mamá también, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), is at its core a traditionally conservative narrative.
Set in the year 2027, Children of Men takes place in post-apocalyptic Britain, where terrorism and environmental decay have taken a toll on the world, propelling people toward the last functioning government. Meet Theo Faron (Clive Owen), a former activist who has since soured on politics, now working in the public sector. After nearly being shredded by a coffee shop bombing, he enters the office to find his co-workers mourning the murder of the youngest person on earth, killed for refusing to sign an autograph. See, human fertility has ceased for reasons that remain mysterious, and the planet is now a childless one. Faron is profoundly unfeeling about it.
Suddenly, he’s approached — actually, kidnapped — by his ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore), leader of a pro-immigrant terrorist group called the Fishes. She offers him money to escort and provide a travel permit for a refugee woman named Kee, who must meet up with another furtive group. Why is Kee so important to the Fishes? We don’t want to provide any spoilers, so you’ll have to watch the movie yourself. Just trust us that you’ll be riveted to your sofa as Faron and Kee narrowly escape the deadly clutches of immigration police and radical murderers.
Cuaron provides a couple of single-take action sequences that will absolutely blow your mind, including a car chase so violent and horrifying you’ll swear it really happened. His gloomy view of a surveillance state in the wake of terrorist attacks and given free rein to spy on, seek out and eliminate those deemed threats to the state is so palpable and familiar it will cause you to reconsider what our own government has to gain by enhancing and extending its so-called War on Terror: more power. Faron’s suspicion of the radical Fishes turns out to be justified, and unlike many Hollywood movies that paint the resistance in glowing colors, Cuaron’s brush is an equal-opportunity myth-buster. That there’s no private-sector transactions depicted (save for an exploding café and off-camera drug-dealing) suggests the economy has been ruined not by Enron-style machinations but by the ongoing encroachment of big government into every facet of human existence. The reason Britain is the only “functioning” government is due to it having ostensibly consumed everything in its path: liberty, private property, guns and individual rights. Hurry down, Doomsday!
Still, Children of Men is ultimately a story of hope. While there is no clear-cut conclusion, there is a moment of redemption for Faron. Like the best adventure films — Casablanca, for instance — Cuaron’s magnificent road movie demonstrates why hope and faith are not things to be trampled on, but instead cherished. In a time like ours, when hope is poisoned by hate and faith is fractured by dogma, there isn’t a better DVD you could watch right now.
