Clive Owen’s outstanding dystopian thriller Children of Men has recently arrived on Amazon Prime Video. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón and based on PD James’ novel, this gripping film showcases a unique visual style. Set in 2027 London, reminiscent of war-torn Beirut, it shows a world where terrorist attacks are tragically commonplace amidst daily struggles.
Due to pollution, humanity has lost its ability to reproduce. The world’s youngest person is just 18 years old, and there’s widespread disorder and hopelessness globally. In our small but resilient island, Britain, citizens are offered free suicide pills named Quietus.
Amid Britain’s relative peace and prosperity, there’s an influx of illegal immigrants. Managing them falls under the UK’s Homeland Security, who detain them in sprawling, mesh-fenced internment camps. Clive Owen plays Theo, once a fiery activist, now a middle-aged alcoholic scraping by as a low-level government worker in a bleak, despondent world.
Theo’s world is shattered anew when he is kidnapped by the Fishes, a terrorist group led by his former lover Julian (Julianne Moore), a steadfast activist who persuades him to assist in smuggling one of their members out of the country. This member is Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), a frightened young woman harboring a profound secret that the terrorists aim to exploit. Kee seeks Theo’s aid—a reluctant hero himself, grappling with fear and uncertainty. Yet, in protecting Kee, Theo rediscovers fragments of his lost idealism and even finds a renewed sense of romance.
The movie also includes a potent dose of satire that may be challenging for some viewers, particularly in the portrayals of Michael Caine’s marijuana-selling peacemaker and Peter Mullan’s delightfully cruel soldier companion, Syd.
Cuarón’s film suggests that in a world consumed by despair and disgust, tyranny would inevitably rise. There’s a collective, irrational craving for punishment, leading to the removal of checks and restraints on the government’s innate inclination towards repression. As a result, our ability to resist state control diminishes. These chilling concepts form the bleak backdrop against which the outstanding thriller unfolds.
Children of Men is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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