The screen adaptation of P.D. James’ Children of Men (1992) takes Cuarón once again to a whole new genre. In this chilling dystopia set in Britain in 2027, the world is no longer producing new children as a consequence of a pandemic, and the Orwellian military dictatorship is subjugating the languishing citizens gathered in prison camps. But a young refugee woman, hidden by the last of the rebels, miraculously becomes pregnant and is taken under the protection of the former activist Theo Faron, played by Clive Owen, now an afternoon-beers quaffing cynic.
The film, which makes skilful use of long documentary-style shots even mentioned as the director’s trademark, especially in the more newsreel-like sequences depicting urban warfare, is a memorable, atmospherically deeply disturbing combination of Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend (1954), Roland Joffé’s The Killing Fields (1984), Oliver Stone’s Salvador (1986), and the classic British miniseries Edge of Darkness (1985). There is even a dash of religious allegory in the thriller-like narrative, and King Crimson plays beautifully amid the horrors. In an unforgettable and cheery supporting role, Michael Caine is seen as a kind of relic stuck in the hippie era of peace and love, uncompromising in his hobby.
Lauri Timonen