X out of 10

A chilling movie inspired by (and far better than) P.D. James’ novel of the same name, Children of Men presents a frighteningly realistic image of a dystopian Britain in 2027. The women of this world have been unable to conceive since 2009, and the ever-aging citizens of earth prepare for their ultimate, unavoidable extinction. Around the world, violence runs rampant, and terrorism of the most vile, destructive sort has rendered most of the planet’s major cities depleted or uninhabitable. At the same time, the final generation of humans to be born are international celebrities, whose precise ages, down to the minute, are known to all.

The film centers on Theo Faron, who in a previous life was somewhat of an activist, but who now whittles away the days at his low-level desk job and bathes his liver in scotch regularly. On his way home from work one day, Theo is abducted by the pro-immigrant group known as The Fishes, which happens to be led by Theo’s ex-wife, Julian. Julian implores Theo to use his position to secure a pair of hard-to-come-by travel permits with the hopes of reaching a mysterious offshore collective of scientists dedicated to restoring the human species known as The Human Project.

As Theo comes to learn, these permits are necessary because The Fishes count among their ranks a young African refugee named Kee, who has somehow become pregnant. If The Fishes can secure transit to The Human Project for Kee and her soon-to-be-born child, there is hope for the human species.

There’s just one minor issue: since HM Government considers Julian and her fellow Fishes to be terrorists, Theo must escort Kee to safety himself. Things are further complicated when tensions within the Fishes come to a head, and Julian is killed by a rival Fish faction that wants to keep Kee and her baby for itself and present them to a the world as an symbol of the Fishes’ righteousness.

This movie’s depiction of the future is extremely distressing, not because of its grimness, but instead for its terrifying plausibility. While it is not at all likely that the women of Earth will all become barren in the next few years, many of the seeds of social collapse presented in the film have been sown by the realities of life in the early 21st century. As the film progresses, we learn that the British government has taken to committing acts of terrorism itself, as a means of ensuring social control through fear. At the same time, widespread anti-immigrant sentiment has resulted in all immigrants to Britain being consigned to massive refugee camps. Britons’ every movements are tracked and scrutinized, and propaganda is ubiquitous. To say that all of these elements of fear and control are not present, in some form or another, in our society is just plain wrong-headed. And as such, Children of Men serves as a powerful, entirely plausible, and utterly terrifying glimpse of a future into which we ourselves may be headed if we remain on the path we march along today.

X = 9.7

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