Children of Men - Discussion thread (1 Viewer)

[rich_d]

What supports that idea?

Baby Diego is killed outside of a bar in Buenos Aires. Why is a celebrity still in Argentina, if there's not a functioning society there? Hell, at least there's a bar.

That's not to say that things aren't bad. We see shots of soldiers marching in Moscow, protest and car burning in Washington, fires in Kuala Lumpur and Brussels, deaths on the street of Tokyo with a headline tag that reads "The World Has Collapsed" ... not the 'rest' of the world has collapsed.

With what we see in the U.K. during the course of the film, I think it would be hard to support that things are much rosier there than any place else.

To my view, it's the worldwide economic collapse that has caused the usual have-have not situation to now become dire indeed, with the have nots taking it on the chin. Look around the dude at his job and you see rows of desks not only not used but wrapped in plastic. On the way to work, the dude walks by a sign saying 'jobs for the Brits.' With the population shrinking, it's only going to get worse.

 

[Holadem]

There is also the mushroom cloud above Manhattan. Apparently saving the cheerleader didn't help.

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[Adam Lenhardt]

Except for the fact that "The World Has Collapsed" is immediately followed by "Only Britain Soldiers On." If Britain's the only country to soldier on, this tells me that yes indeed the rest of the world has collapsed.

 

[Richard Kim]

I consider it to be biased news coverage/propoganda from the government controlled media to make Britain look good compared to the rest of the world. In the beginning of the film, a restaurant/cafe is bombed right in front of Clive Owen.

 

[Holadem]

Depends on the amount of faith you put into the news coverage. The regime in this movie didn't strike me as very transparent.

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[rich_d]

Not to mention a shot of soldiers 'soldiering on' in Moscow.

Not that 'soldiering on' is my idea of 'functioning society.'

Given that option or the bar, I'll be at the

 

[Tim Glover]

Good to see CoM with 3 Oscar noms. Editing, Cinematography, and Adapted Screenplay. Was hoping Cuaron would get a Best Director nom as well one for Best Picture. :frowning:....I knew Clive Owen was a long shot indeed but he was still fantastic in this.

 

[JediFonger]

wasn't much editing on this film. should've been nominated for best pic, best director because of the humanity of the story.

 

[Darcy Hunter]

I think you're underestimating just how complicated those "unbroken" shots really are.

 

[Holadem]

What's the humanity of the story got to do with directing?

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[rich_d]

Exactly. If you love the story, that film credit goes to those that adapted the P.D. James book to a screenplay.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Ah, clearly the U.K.'s in bad shape, but the news coverage has to be true or else the immigration problem would be so significant. If England wasn't substantially more bearable than the rest of the world, people would say "ah, fuck it" and stay home. We come from a high comfortable society, see how horrible things are in this movie, and figure that's the worst that it can get. The people in Darfur, or Palestine, or Bagdhad, and probably many other places that don't even make it on the news will tell you that indeed it can get much worse.

 

[Derek Miner]

I think that underestimates the impact a director has on a film. It's the director's job to determine how that tone comes across to an audience. A very human script could turn into a garbage film in the wrong hands. And a good director may be able to pull some meaning out of a sub-par script as well.

 

[JediFonger]

yesh, which has little to do with editing. it's more staging/preplanning, DP, Director, producer and the rest of the crew. not saying it plays 0 part, it's just not a major part.

 

[Phil Garcia]

I had a few minor quibbles...in the beginning with the coffee shop explosion, a woman almost immediately stumbles out and walks around with her arm in her hand. It just bothered me that within the ten seconds of the blast someone would be coherent enough to actually realize their arm was torn off in a huge explosion and walk off with it.

I also could have used more closure. Am I correct in assuming that the Human Project ships the babies off to an unknown facility in a secret location and waits for humanity to destroy itself, and rebuild once the wars are over (that is, the general population is nearly entirely dead)?

Great movie.

 

[Chris*Liberti]

I have to agree completely, great film all around. This and The Fountain are my 2 favorite films of the year and I have yet to see Babel.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

I just saw this last night and agree with most everything said here. Very enveloping movie. There were a few parts that I didn't quite understand.

First off, Jasper's human project joke. I didn't get that at all. I had a difficult time making out what the guy said he was eating at the end. It sounded like 'a stork'.

Finally, when they are on the bus going into the refugee camp, and the guard came on the bus and took away Kee's care giver. What was the guard looking for? Why did he only take away certain people? What was Theo saying to him about smelling something?

 

[Stephen_L]

Jeff, the joke will lose something in the translation, but the gist is that while the great minds of the Human Project are trying to solve the disappearance of babies, the answer is right under their noses and they themselves are the cause: they're eating storks, the birds that bring people babies in fairy stories.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Ohhh, ok, got it. I was thinking in the wrong direction. I was thinking that they were eating something that was poisioning them or somehow making them infertile. Thanks.

 

[Mike.P]

One could only assume he was taking away people deemed unfit for the camp - the first Italian-like guy seemed very weak and frightened, and the guard took him off. Then he went to Kee who was crying in pain from the contractions, since the dog came over to them, and Miriam gets up to try and save Kee from getting taken - effectively outing herself, which buys Theo enough time to say that the reason the dog was barking was because he smelled the urine (which was actually Kee's water which had broken), and the guard calls Theo an animal insinuating that he also smelled the urine.

Hope that made sense.