Children of Men

Children of Men was a very powerful film that made quite an impact on me. There were many references in this film to the theme of hope, as well as religion and world peace. Although they were not completely obvious, those references would have been very powerful to any worldly educated audience. The issue of infertility is presented once again in the film, like it was in The Handmaid’s Tale, however the approach to it was much different. 

The film brought out the anxiety about declining birth rates in the world today, like the essay When Science Fiction Writers Used Fictional Drugs by John Hickman says, unlike The Handmaid’s Tale, where there was a solution proposed. In this case, no solution existed except the hope provided by the Human Project. Other then that, despair is seen throughout the film due to the inability to reproduce. It switches the infertility from male to female but does not explain the cause of these unfortunate circumstances. No matter the cause, however, the issue in the film brings upon a complete anarchy, where guerrilla violence and bombing become an unsurprising occurrence.

Another reference in this film was to religion, that I noted with the title itself. “Children of Men” sounded biblical to me, so I looked it up. "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men,” Psalm 90(89):3 is the exact passage. Additionally, the guerrilla British terrorists were named “Fishes”, who protected the rights of refugees in the film. Kee also jokes that she is a virgin, when she is carrying the first baby to be born in almost two decades, an allusion to the Virgin Mary. Despite these clearly Christian references, there were other religions referenced that I found extremely interesting. In the final credits, the words “Shanti, Shanti, Shanti” appear. I am half Indian, so I understood completely what these words signified, although many might not. The word  means “peace”, but also references rebirth through an end to violence. The amount of violence seen in this movie superimposed with the sacredness of new life was perplexing, yet the words “Shanti, Shanti, Shanti” further drive the point home. 

The Miracle Cease Fire scene really got to me, and also helped point out the paradox of this society. The cease fire occurred when everyone heard the baby crying, yet once they had gotten to safety with it, they kept taking more lives. What was the point? If they had such respect for innocent young human life, how come they did not have it for each other? Rebirth was such an important concept in this film, although I’m not sure that many people understood it. Hope and faith went hand in hand with birth, yet they were unachievable if society was so willing to take lives like that. I do not know if faith in humanity would have been restored should fertility had been restores as well, because the humans in this film had no regard for life. I believe the theme of rebirth had more to do with the adult human generation in this film than it had to do with producing future generations.