Children of Men is the first movie I’ve seen this year. Indeed, it’s the first movie I’ve seen since I watched The Queen a couple of months back. Movies like this are kind of difficult for me to peg down after the first viewing. Not so much because of the content (being a science fiction fan, the theme of the movie was very interesting, and in my opinion, well played out), but because of the sheer brutality of the film. I don’t remember seeing so much heart wrenching violence since I saw The Pianist some years back.

The post apocalyptic genre has always appealed to me. If you asked me why, I’m not sure I could explain. Maybe I just like the idea of a “fresh start”. Sort of, “if I could form my own social dynamic, this is how I would do it”. Or something.

Though Children of Men isn’t post apocalyptic, it’s right on the verge. It tells a story of humanity right on the very edge of extinction and it tells it pretty well. I have to wonder, however, if man were staring extinction right in the face, would it necessarily be played out this way?

Every science fiction movie or book that deals with this issue (that I’ve read) seem to imagine it the same way. We panic. We become xenophobic, authoritarian, fundamentally religious, etc…. In short, we become monsters hardly deserving of any reprieve.

I wonder why that is. I wonder if the science fiction writers have human nature correct when they trust us into their apocalyptic future.

In any case, I liked the movie. I wouldn’t call it the “movie of the millennium” like some have, but I liked it.

8.5 out of 10 stars.