I am a poor consumer of movies and entertainment media in general. I had a period of time where I watched a moderate number of movies, but I find it harder to become enthused now. Nevertheless, going through best-of lists every now and then, I’m always surprised by how many I’ve seen. One that I’ve watch multiple times and has shown up on must-see lists is ‘Children of Men’ (2006). Its status is more a cult classic as it was never widely embraced as a blockbuster though it was nominated for several awards. There’s something about the message and visuals that resonates with the viewers and that’s why it shows up on best of lists. After buying the DVD years ago I’ve managed to watch it at least a half dozen times if not more. What is it about the movie that makes it resonate so much today?
<Possible spoiler alert here>
Children of Men is a science fiction film set in the near future, 2027 with almost all features recognizable to us now. The setting and times in the film were partially froze, realizing that there was no going forward for mankind once the entire population had lost all fertility. No children meant a full demographic end to mankind. That sets in motion a lot of unpleasant dystopian forces as various ethnic and national populations cope with the destruction that it begins to occur all around them. There are a lot of takeaways from the movie, and I could not cover them all here, but my fascination and I think a lot of people’s fascinations with the movie is how close and relatable the details are to what we see going around us now. This was the case when the film first came out and when I saw it multiple times on DVD, but pulling it out to watch it now, the first time since the Covid pandemic started, some details suddenly appear alarmingly urgent and present in a way that it could never have an earlier viewings.
The film is interspersed with plenty of references and props and lines to make sure that the good guys are perceived to be left wing, (a nostalgic version that no longer exists as indicated by the frequent Beetles soundtrack); and the government, brutal authoritarians, are implied there to be the opposite although that’s tertiary to the film plot. This is a predictable bias for Hollywood. But any honest Lefty might be dismayed to view this film now considering the Covid pandemic. First, the loss of fertility portrayed in the film has eerie overtones of what has been whispered about Covid, but not the disease itself, but rather the pharma-tyranny that has resulted from it. Loss of fertility was one of the fears of mass vaccination and who can trust alternative information from a regime that demands total conformity to the state ‘truth’ about Covid upon pain of force; lose of job, total disenfranchisement? Second, it is the left that has spearheaded the real crackdowns in response to covid, and these suddenly look uncomfortably close to the crackdowns in the film. In the film, the jack-booted government thugs brutally abuse people seeking refuge in Britain. In the present Covid-world, jack-booted police in many progressive countries beat-down anyone not ready to show their vax card, put on a mask [of submission], or even to protest these same things.
Keep in mind that the visuals shown in the film to most people might seem a lot more severe than what’s happened in the United States except in the most progressive cities, but they start to look like they are dead-on in countries like Australia, Germany, Austria, and even Canada. The resemblance is shocking. Maybe you haven’t watched the videos of the uprisings and beatdowns going on in those countries because the US media would not like you to see that side of Covid-fascism but just be aware that it’s on conservative media if you’ve limited yourself strictly to regime approved news. A film that just happened to take a side jab at conservatism has begun to look like a documentary on progressive left oppression. That oppression you’re supposed to like and thank the government for, for ‘saving you’.
There are a lot of other critical lessons in the film Children of Men, especially about the crisis of fertility because that too is real. The progressive left has suppressed research that world population is on course to collapse starting within 20 to 30 years. This news too is suppressed as they still need the over-population narrative to advance their causes but plunging fertility is going to be every bit is worse as what they predicted about overpopulation.
Take from the movie what you will. There’s a great deal to think about as you watch it. Humanity doesn’t appreciate what it has until it’s gone.