Who Killed All the Storks?
by Kelly Tong
The science fiction films that Hollywood produces these days all yield a warning towards an unpleasant future if our cards are not played right. Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, for example, suggests that society should be wary of attempts to eliminate crime, because one never knows who can suddenly be defined as a criminal. Similarly, Will Smith in I, Robot forewarned robots can be society’s greatest enemy as well as its best friend (and also that Skechers sneakers are apparently still cool in the future).
The concepts for sci-fi blockbusters are essentially simple “what if” questions – what if robots turned against mankind or what if humanity encountered an extraterrestrial race that either wanted to destroy us or become our BFF. Audiences are shown that with every advancement in technology, there are often consequences that are concealed from society. Convenience comes at a price, but to those that benefit, ignorance is easier on the conscience than the truth.
Director Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men follows a similar plot formula. Its concept is simple – what if in 2009, women suddenly become infertile? How many people will lose hope in our civilization? Children of Men is set in London 2027, in a society on the brink of chaos. The majority of governments in the world have collapsed due to political upheaval or nuclear war, and according to propaganda television, England is the last safe location on the planet. Despite that fact, the British government has grown militant in order to sustain control and constantly fights a battle to keep refugees off its island. The future is so drab, in fact, that suicide drugs are sold over the counter.
The film follows Theo (Clive Owen), a typical apathetic dystopian citizen who suddenly is thrust into the plan to protect humanity’s only hope of survival, a young pregnant refugee Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey). Constantly threatened by the hostile society and an underground terrorist group intending to use her child to ignite a revolution, the two desperately attempt to find their way to “the Human Project,” a rumored sanctuary for researchers attempting to save the human race.
But Alfonso Cuarón, a rather radical director, took a new approach to directing a sci-fi movie. The first challenge of a sci-fi director is to convince the audience that they are viewing a world unfamiliar to them - in this case, the future. Minority Report and The Matrix focused their budget on designing new gadgets and dazzling futuristic weapons and cars. Granted Children does contain that element, but Cuarón decided to concentrate on a more realistic future where cars do not fly and new Skechers are a luxury. Instead of dramatic fast-paced scenes, Cuarón opts for long shots with his hand-held camera, giving the film a documentary feel. The most impressive scene by far is the nine minute action sequence at the climax, during which the camera never cuts away from Clive Owen as he rushes through a fire fight. The shaky footage might seem to be amateurish, but it is far from it. In fact, it is that aspect that grants the film its high level of suspense.
Usually, a plot riddled with holes is a huge flaw. The audience is never told what exactly caused the widespread infertility or the true state of governments around the world. But these plot holes are intentional, leaving much up to the imagination of the audience. Furthermore, they are irrelevant to the movie. Cuarón describes his dystopia through images rather than narrative. Theo and Kee’s journey acts as a tool used to connect the images that the audience sees. Following the two, viewers are taken from the shabby center of London to abandoned schools of the countryside and to refugee concentration camps. Cuarón depicts a world not concerned with how the infertility occurred or one that is looking for the cure, but he instead illustrates a human race that is desperate and solutionless, and with no one and no diety to save them.
Without any doubt, Children of Men will play an important role in cinematic history. Cinema Studies students will scrutinize its plethora of motifs and themes and critics will utilize it as a tool to judge today’s society. It is one of those films that determines whether you are an optimist or pessimist. Will you view a newborn after eighteen years of infertility as a blessing? Or will you see no hope whatsoever? Personally, I think that the answer will depend on whether there are robots in the future, because if there is one thing that Will Smith and Battlestar Galactica have taught me, it is that robots are our greatest threat.
