Presenting a bleak, harrowing, and yet ultimately hopeful vision of humankind’s not-too-distant future, Children of Men is a riveting cautionary tale of potential things to come. Set in the crisis-ravaged future of 2027, and based on the atypical 1993 novel by British mystery writer P.D. James, the anxiety-inducing, action-packed story is set in a dystopian England where humanity has become infertile (the last baby was born in 2009), immigration is a crime, refugees (or “fugees”) are caged like animals, and the world has been torn apart by nuclear fallout, rampant terrorism, and political rebellion. In this seemingly hopeless landscape of hardscrabble survival, a jaded bureaucrat named Theo (Clive Owen) is drawn into a desperate struggle to deliver Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), the world’s only pregnant woman, to a secret group called the Human Project that hopes to discover a cure for global infertility. As they carefully navigate between the battling forces of military police and a pro-immigration insurgency, Theo, Kee, and their secretive allies endure a death-defying ordeal of urban warfare, and director Alfonso Cuaron (with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki) capture the action with you-are-there intensity. There’s just enough humor to balance the film’s darker content (much of it coming from Michael Caine, as Theo’s aging hippie cohort), and although Children of Men glosses over many of the specifics about its sociopolitical worst-case scenario (which includes Julianne Moore in a brief but pivotal role), it’s still an immensely satisfying, pulse-pounding vision of a future that represents a frightening extrapolation of early 21st-century history. –Jeff Shannon
Product Description
Set in 2027, scientists are at a loss to explain why humans can no longer procreate, but the discovery of a lone pregnant woman leads to a desperate journey to protect her and save the future of mankind.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 4-SEP-2007
Media Type: DVD
Product Details
- Actors: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Peter Mullan, Pam Ferris
- Directors: Alfonso Cuarón
- Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rated: R (Restricted)
- Studio: Universal Studios
- DVD Release Date: May 4, 2010
- Run Time: 109 minutes
