The Children of Men

I first saw a trailer for this move months ago, and have been intrigued by the idea ever since. What if we stopped having babies? What if there were no more children? What would become of a world that had not had a new birth in almost 19 years?

In The Children of Men, the world has totally fallen apart. Anarchy has broken out across the world and only Britain soliders on, using xenophobic Parliamentary legislation and soldiers on the streets to maintain a fragile social order, constantly threatened by terrorism and the same despair that has consumed the rest of the world.

Then there is a miracle. A man stands in a sort of stable filled with cows as a young woman removes her shirt to show him that she is pregnant. He is dumbstruck and speechless before the pregnant woman...until he finally mutters "Jesus Christ!" And maybe he has spoken prophetically.

But I don't know what to make of this movie. It is at the same time deeply cynical about human nature while also being a story of hope. A powerful and moving scene (pictured above) demonstrates this well: a brutal and chaotic street battle between the British Army and a mix of armed terrorists and innocent bystanders comes to a complete standstill simply at the sound of a newborn baby's crying - the hope of all the world. Yet the moment of reprieve and wonder (end even prayer) comes to an abrupt termination and seems to be instantly forgotten as a rocket explodes and the horrid battle (massacre?) erupts back into its full intensity.

There is hope in the newborn Child (this movie was appropriately released in select cities on Christmas Day), but will we embrace it fully enough to be utterly remade by it? It is unclear if more than a handful of characters in this (very graphic) movie do so.

Click here for Christianity Today's review of this film.