FILM 2218: CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)

TRIVIA: In the movie, the infertility crisis is the result of all women being infertile. In the original novel by P.D. James, it's the result of all men producing no sperm.

Almost every shot contains an animal, usually a dog.

Writer and director Alfonso Cuarón said in one interview that he wanted to shoot this movie like The Battle of Algiers (1966), rather than Blade Runner (1982), almost like a documentary about something that happened back in 2027.

At the beginning of this movie, as Theo leaves the coffee shop, a tall pointed building can be seen in the background. This building is called The Shard, and its construction began in 2009, three years after the movie was filmed. It was digitally added to the movie, which took place in 2027, sixteen years after The Shard was due to be completed.

P.D. James was reportedly very pleased with the finished movie.

This movie never explains the reason for the infertility. This has been attributed to Cuarón's dislike for expository film: "There's a kind of cinema I detest, which is a cinema that is about exposition and explanations." He once said. "It's become a medium for lazy readers. Cinema is a hostage of narrative. And I'm very good at narrative as a hostage of cinema."

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Alfonso Cuarón): Use of long, continuous, and digitally blended shots.

In the scene where Jasper is describing how he and Theo met, and the death of Theo's son Dylan during a flu pandemic, you can hear choral music in the background. The music is Gustav Mahler's "Kindertotenlieder" or "Songs on the Death of Children". The text of the piece is taken from a set of poems written by German poet Friedrich Rückert. The poems were written in an effort to cope with the loss of his own two children to scarlet fever.

CAMEO: P.D. James: Author of the book "The Children of Men" played the old woman in the cafeteria with Theo.

Included amongst the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

I’m making my way through the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. See my blog post about my copy of the book here…

You can buy an updated version (which I will get after I’ve made my way through this edition) here…

I really hope you can come on this journey with me – if you do I’d love to know which films you’ve enjoyed the most!

Watch this here…