: Children of Men
Author: P.D. James
I read the book years ago and liked it, though reading P.D. James requires significant effort. As a result I liked the movie even better: it’s dramatic, fast-paced, and fascinating where the book was interesting but plodding. I don’t remember the specifics of the book well enough to judge the adapation, but the film worked for me. The story’s a tale of the future, in a world where women all over the planet mysteriously stopped having babies — and the doom of the human race is a mere generation away. This is a bleak future and society’s gone downhill, of course: what point is there in living when there’s no tomorrow? Why marry when there are no kids to raise? But that’s just the setting: the story’s about a man who gets involved with rebel forces who are trying to smuggle a pregnant girl — the first in a generation — out of England. The woman represents the future of humanity and everyone wants to use her for their own cause. Sometimes the politics of this future world are not explained well enough and the film occasionally is confusing as key facts are only stated once, indirectly (such as newspaper headlines shown briefly as the camera sweeps past). But these are minor gripes; the main premise comes across and the story’s got emotion and energy.
Topic: [/movie] |
