'Children of Men' - Near Sci-Fi Movie

it's amazing how we can all watch the same movie, but have different opinions on the same sequences

I didn't see it like that - my interpretation was that they were desperate to find a fertile person, so enforced fertility tests. I saw that as an admission of a problem.

To me that was the bias rants of a conspiracy fueled terror organisation. (think 12 Monkeys)
The viewers of the movie didn't get to see the governments opinion or stance on anything, so I think it's unfair to accept the rantings of the Fish as gospel.

It's a jump to assume that her state was due to being tortured - it could have been a great many number of things (ill health etc). I appreciated them not saying why she was in that state, and leaving it to the view to make their own conclusions.

It wasn't implied at all - that's a complete jump on your part. Biologically flu doesn't cause infertility, but beyond that the movie merely states that were was a pandemic, but doesn't relate it to the infertility.

He always has, and always will be an outstanding actor - he can turn his hand to anything. Pam Ferris was excellent in her role, but Moore was sadly underused in this movie.

Something tells me that actor who played Luke is a current 'hot property' in British acting, and keeps popping up in various movies.

 

The guy who played Luke was the Operative in Serenity, and he has been popping up here and there in various movies. He's a fantastic actor.

 

I saw the movie and it was freakin sweet!!!!!! I would actually compare it to Star Wars!!!!!! My favorite dude was this guy who had dreadlockes. It takes a little bit, but by the end it is full of action! There are tanks, rebels, an uprising, and a whole lot of deaths! O would reccomend this movie. Oh yah, the guy who played Luke I think I saw in this other weird movie that made no sense. Can't remember what it's called, though.

 

I rarely buy DVDs, I generally watch a movie once, and that's it. But I'm definitely gonna get this movie. Simply incredible. Better than Pan's Labyrinth.

Agreed. Recently Korean directors have been making some good stuff too.

 

Gonna rent this tonight!

 

Enjoy it!

 

I should have specified. I wasn't comparing the two because they were both directed by Mexicans. I was comparing them simply because those were the only two Oscar contenders I've seen so far.

 

Saw it last night. Great film; very intense.

 

QFT. Very nice.

 

The point of the movie was "how do we restore hope to a world that has forgotten what hope is?" It treats the descent into chaos as a totally foregone conclusion, which I think is a more powerful commentary than re-making Crash on a larger scale.


Foregone conclusion or no, I wanted to see it. The fact that it would happen isnt nearly as important as the mechanics of how, when, and where; which I personally would have found fascinating.

And as for restoring hope, thats fine, except for my point of view the movie didnt do that either. By the time the baby went sailing off into the sunset, hope HADNT been restored. Everything was the same as it was when the movie started. I was hoping for a big revelation when the baby is put on TV and everyone yells for joy or something. But as is the ending was awfully anti-climatic and something of a waste. They should have made a bigger deal about the baby than they did. It should have been an international celebration. As it stands theres been a new baby which no one knows about, and therefore no one can care.

The whole world is a consequence. The lack of laughter or apparent entertainment? The government-issued suicide packets? The refugee camps? The grime everywhere because cleaning up after yourself doesn't seem relevant anymore? Even visually, the fact that the only time we see the sun in this film, it's setting?

The problem is that that is par for the course in any post-apocalyptic film, so there was nothing to differentiate it in this one. What about amusement parks? Fast food? Hordes of dirty jobs that we depend on a continuous supply of minimum wage under-age labor for? That was the social commentary that I would have found interesting. They just cant give me a dirty street and expect a gold-medal for imagination. And we never see the whole world anyway. I was really waiting to see how the 3rd world was going to react, with its underage sweatshop labor being extinguished and what they were going to do about it. THAT would have been a point worth making.

The reason we don't see anything outside of England is because there IS nothing outside of England but devastation. That's why there are so many refugees flooding the British Isles: there is literally nowhere else to go.

Well that is something of a circular argument. They should have told us why there is nothing but devastation, and thats the wrong word anyway. There were plenty of people left in Seattle to put the city under siege. The who and why of that was something I thought would have really crystallized the desperation. I never really found the world I was shown to be all that desperate, and that was certainly counter to the filmmakers intent I am sure. If the point about the movie wasnt about the rest of the world, it should have been.

 

Again, the British government would probably not have accepted the child as the child of a fugee. It would have taken Kee's baby, given it to a wealthy black couple, and used them as propaganda to show that there's still fertility in England. But the baby would have just been another Baby Diego -- a celebrity and a reminder of what was. There'd still be no one looking for a cure because the government wouldn't be admitting there's a problem.

Well maybe thats just my problem with the movie. Thats an extraordinary flimsy plot-point to make the center of a movie that intends to have so much else to say. I would have said screw 'em and taken the baby to the first cop I found. There were far more worthy opportunities for social commentary to give the screentime to.

 

That is definately NOT the word I word I have used. I was staring at the clock far too often, saying "Sure, great, but when is something interesting going to happen?" Maybe I have just seen the post-apocalyptic atmosphere done too many times already to be impressed, or to be more precise, post-apocalyptic for post-apocalyptics sake. Yes its dirty, but it doenst really lead anywhere. Yes a few people have given up, but most havent and are making jokes about it. Yes the world has gone to hell, but it is never seen and largely ignored after the opening 5 mins.

It just takes MORE THAN THAT. There is so much they could have done and just didnt know they could or should. Having a baby being born in a dump and chased through a gunfight just isnt good enough to warrant all the trouble. There were higher, more intelligent points to make and all I can say is that I wish that they would have made them.

 

Actually, there is specifically a headline on the wall: "MI5 Deny Involvement in Torture of Photojournalist." The camera holds on this headline just before introducing the lady in her vegetative state. The juxtaposition implies that one caused the other.

 

The children's laughter at the end sounded pretty damn hopeful to me.

 

I understand where you're coming from, 'cause I too kept thinking that eventually Theo & Kee would be discovered by some government authority and the newborn taken into custody, and the game would be "over". So when Theo basically says "to hell with it" and escorts Kee right through the government soldiers, I found it striking that the soldiers and the rebels' battle literally grinds to a halt as Theo & Kee exit the apartment house. The soldiers are totally dumbstruck, and some even display religious reverence. I totally expected the officer-in-charge at the site to confiscate the baby and take Kee into custody, but this never happens. Instead, once Theo & Kee are clear, the battle resumes. I saw that as Cuaron's symbolic way of saying this was the very reason why Kee's "baby Eve" couldn't be turned over to the government: the government was too pre-occupied stamping out all remaining resistance to bother with humanity's new hope for survival. Further, Luke's earlier remark about an inevitable coverup also suggests that the govt. would only use Kee & child to ensure selective survival of those deemed "worthy". Just my tuppence...