🟪▪️𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 & 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐌𝐒: 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐄𝐍▪️🟪

In one of the recent interviews, 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 mentioned the 𝑴𝑶𝑽𝑰𝑬 and 𝑻𝑽 𝑺𝑬𝑹𝑰𝑬𝑺 which he’s currently fascinated by. So, I decided that it’s a right time to continue my 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 & 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐌𝐒 series of posts I once shared with you here on the page (who can remember it, by the way?😉)


⭐Let’s talk about 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐄𝐍 today.
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨: "This is set in a dystopian near-future in London. I rewatched it a few times, before and after Brexit kicked in, when I was making the decision to leave the UK. I felt so psychologically brutalised by what was going on that I could really relate to this film again. The police state vision of future England in this movie was slowly becoming a reality: heavily armed police patrols on the streets, refugees and immigrants locked up in camps. Julianne Moore and Clive Owen are excellent, but top prize goes to Michael Caine, who plays this long-haired hippy stoner – his performance is absolutely hilarious."
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝑂𝑛 𝑀𝑦 𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑟, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 19𝑡ℎ, 2022 / 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑏𝑦 𝐾𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑦𝑛 𝐵𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑤𝑖𝑐ℎ)

Writer and film critic Laura Eldred observes that the film is "𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒅𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒓" - which Brian undoubtedly is!❤️

Photo credit: Mads Perch; Children Of Men poster / edit by Olga

⭐𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐄𝐍 is a 2006 dystopian action thriller film co-written and directed by 𝑨𝒍𝒇𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒐 𝑪𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒐́𝒏. The screenplay is based on the eponymous 1992 novel by P. D. James.
𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: Clive Owen, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pam Ferris, Charlie Hunnam.
The film was released on September 22nd, 2006 in the UK and on Christmas Day, December 25th, in the US (which is a connection to the film's themes of hope, redemption, and faith).

⭐𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐄𝐍 received critical acclaim and was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. It was also nominated for three BAFTA Awards, winning Best Cinematography and Best Production Design, and for three Saturn Awards, winning Best Science Fiction Film. In 2016 it was voted 13th among 100 films considered the best of the 21st century by 117 film critics from around the world.


𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐞𝐧 - 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫
➡️ https://bit.ly/3qRxKCZ


🟪𝑷𝒍𝒐𝒕
London, 2027. In this dystopian world, humans have been incapable of reproducing for eighteen years for an unknown reason, meaning the imminent extinction of the species. Britain is the one remaining civilized society on the planet, which has resulted in people wanting to immigrate there. As such, it has become a police state in order to handle the immigrants, who are placed into refugee camps. Lowly government bureaucrat Theo Faron, once an activist, is approached by the Fishes, deemed a terrorist group, led by his ex-wife Julian Taylor, who he has not seen in close to twenty years, their marriage which disintegrated following the death of their infant son Dylan during the 2008 flu pandemic. Although the Fishes did use terrorist means in their on-going revolution against the state in the fight for immigrant rights, Julian vows that they now garner support solely by speaking to the people. What she wants is for Theo to use his connections to get transit papers for a young immigrant woman named Kee who needs to get to the coast. Although initially reluctant to do it because of the difficulty, Theo is able to grant Julian this favor, however with the change that he now needs to accompany Kee on her journey. As Theo and Kee progress on that journey, Theo learns more and more about what's going on, including the reason that Kee needs to get to the coast, the fact that no one in the group knows if their end destination even exists, and that his and Kee's lives are in greater danger than he believed when they started the journey. But Theo's sole mission becomes to help Kee at any cost for the survival of the species.


⭐𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐒⭐
🟪𝑯𝑶𝑷𝑬 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑭𝑨𝑰𝑻𝑯🟪
▪Children of Men explores the themes of hope and faith in the face of overwhelming futility and despair. The film's source, P. D. James' novel The Children of Men (1992), describes what happens when society is unable to reproduce, using male infertility to explain this problem. The 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 can therefore be explained as such: 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔, 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒑 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅.
▪The film switches the infertility from male to female but never explains its cause: environmental destruction and divine punishment are considered.
Cuarón uses the concept of 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 as a "𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆". The "almost mythical" Human Project is turned into a "𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈". Without dictating how the audience should feel by the end of the film, Cuarón encourages viewers to come to their own conclusions about the sense of hope depicted in the final scenes: "We wanted the end to be a glimpse of a possibility of hope, for the audience to invest their own sense of hope into that ending. So if you're a hopeful person you'll see a lot of hope, and if you're a bleak person you'll see a complete hopelessness at the end."

Photo credit:  Juliette Robert

🟪𝑹𝑬𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑰𝑶𝑵🟪
▪The crux of the journey in Children of Men lies in what is uncovered along the path rather than the terminus itself. Theo's heroic journey to the south coast mirrors his personal quest for "self-awareness", a journey that takes him from "despair to hope".
▪According to Cuarón, the title of P. D. James' book (The Children of Men) is an allegory derived from a passage of scripture in the Bible. James refers to her story as a "Christian fable" while Cuarón describes it as "almost like a look at Christianity": "𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆𝒔. […] 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒅𝒐𝒈𝒎𝒂."
▪The film has been noted for its use of 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦; for example, British terrorists named "Fishes" protect the rights of refugees. Opening on Christmas Day in the United States, critics compared the characters of Theo and Kee with Joseph and Mary, calling the film a "modern-day Nativity story". Kee's pregnancy is revealed to Theo in a barn, alluding to the manger of the Nativity scene; when Theo asks Kee who the father of the baby is she jokingly states she is a virgin; and when other characters discover Kee and her baby, they respond with "Jesus Christ" or the sign of the cross.
▪In the closing credits, the Sanskrit words "𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒉 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒉 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒉" appear as end titles. During a visit to his house by Theo and Kee, Jasper says "Shanti, shanti, shanti". Eldred notes that the "shanti" used in the film is also found at the end of an 𝐔𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝 [𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑽𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒌𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒖 𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒚] and in the final line of T. S. Eliot's poem 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅, a work being described as "devoted to contemplating a world emptied of fertility: a world on its last, teetering legs". "𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊" is also a common beginning and ending to all 𝑯𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒖 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔, and means "peace", referencing the invocation of divine intervention and rebirth through an end to violence.


🟪𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑴𝑷𝑶𝑹𝑨𝑹𝒀 𝑹𝑬𝑭𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑪𝑬𝑺🟪
▪Children of Men takes an unconventional approach to the modern action film, using a documentary, newsreel style. Some critics observe the film's underlying touchstone of 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
▪There’s a similarity between the hellish, cinéma vérité stylized battle scenes of the film and current news and documentary coverage of the 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐪 𝐖𝐚𝐫.
▪In the film, refugees are "hunted down like cockroaches", rounded up and put into roofless cages open to the elements and camps, and even shot, leading film critics to observe symbolic "overtones" and images of the 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭. This is reinforced in the scene where an elderly refugee woman speaking German is seen detained in a cage. A song by The Libertines, Arbeit macht frei, plays in the background. "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒂𝒛𝒊 𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅-𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈", writes Richard A. Blake. "𝑰𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆."
▪Cuarón explains how he uses his imagery to cross-reference fictional and futuristic events with real, contemporary, or historical incidents:
“They exit the Russian apartments, and the next shot you see is this woman wailing, holding the body of her son in her arms. This was a reference to a 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒔, crying with the corpse of her son. It's very obvious that when the photographer captured that photograph, he was referencing 𝐋𝐚 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐚̀, the 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒐 sculpture of Mary holding the corpse of Jesus.”

Post by Olga