History Film / ChildrenOfMen

Theo (Owen), a white-collar worker, is distracted from his rut when his ex-wife Julian (Moore) approaches him for a favor: to help smuggle a refugee girl named Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), who happens to be ''pregnant'', out of the country. Theo agrees to protect Kee on a dangerous journey -- past rebels, a repressive government, and traitors -- to see her to safety.

''Children of Men'' is a 2006 {{childless dystopia}}n {{science fiction}} film co-written and directed by Creator/AlfonsoCuaron (Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban, Film/{{Gravity}}) starring Creator/CliveOwen, Creator/JulianneMoore and Creator/MichaelCaine. It is [[PragmaticAdaptation loosely]] [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on the novel]] ''The Children of Men'' by P. D. James.

''Children of Men'' is a 2006 {{childless dystopia}}n {{science fiction}} film co-written and directed by Creator/AlfonsoCuaron (Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban, Film/{{Gravity}}), starring Creator/CliveOwen, Creator/JulianneMoore and Creator/MichaelCaine. It is [[PragmaticAdaptation loosely]] [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on the novel]] ''The Children of Men'' by P. D. James.

''Children of Men'' is a 2006 {{childless dystopia}}n {{science fiction}} film co-written and directed by Creator/AlfonsoCuaron, starring Creator/CliveOwen, Creator/JulianneMoore and Creator/MichaelCaine. It is [[PragmaticAdaptation loosely]] [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on the novel]] ''The Children of Men'' by P. D. James.

''Children of Men'' is a 2006 {{childless dystopia}}n science fiction film co-written and directed by Creator/AlfonsoCuaron, starring Creator/CliveOwen, Creator/JulianneMoore and Creator/MichaelCaine. It is [[PragmaticAdaptation loosely]] [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on the novel]] ''The Children of Men'' by P. D. James.

[[caption-width-right:344: Humanity is now an '''endangered species'''.]]

[[caption-width-right:344: Humanity is now an ''endangered species''.]]

[[caption-width-right:344: Humanity is now an endangered species.]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Creator/MichaelCaine has said he based Jasper on Music/JohnLennon, down to the long hair and the Lennon Specs (well, [[Literature/HarryPotter Potter]] specs, but you get the idea).

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Creator/MichaelCaine has said he based Jasper on Music/JohnLennon, down to the long hair and the LennonSpecs (well, [[Literature/HarryPotter Potter]] specs, but you get the idea).

[[caption-width-right:344: Humanity is know an endangered species.]]

* EpicTrackingShot: Alfonso Cuaron is very fond of this technique and the film is famous for it. The action climax is shot in one long shot in is ''over seven and a half minutes long''.

* EpicTrackingShot: Alfonso Cuaron, the Director, is very fond of this technique and the film is famous for it. The action-climax is shot in one long shot in is ''over seven and a half minutes long''.

* SecretStabWound: Kee sees blood on the bottom of the boat and assumes it's her own (she'd given birth a short time earlier), but Theo assures her he'd been shot minutes ago and just paid it no mind in the heat of the situation. [[spoiler:Theo survives long enough to help Kee escape, before succumbing to his wound.]]

[[caption-width-right:344: Humanity is know an endangered species ...]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/20121017_101408.jpg]]

* BlastOut: After Theo and Kee [[spoiler: bring the baby through a silenced battle]], all it takes is one bullet for the fight to resume as if it had never happened.

* FinalGirl: [[spoiler:By the end, Kee and her infant son are the only major characters still alive.]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:By the end, Kee and her infant son are the only major characters still alive.]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Creator/MichaelCaine has said he based Jasper on Music/JohnLennon, down to the long hair and the LennonSpecs.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Creator/MichaelCaine has said he based Jasper on Music/JohnLennon, down to the long hair and the GrannyGlasses.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Creator/MichaelCaine has said he based Jasper on Creator/JohnLennon, down to the long hair and the GrannyGlasses.

* PietaPlagiarism: A compound example - the film includes a shot of a woman wailing while holding her dying son in her arms, which was a ShoutOut to a similar photograph taken in the Balkans, which was itself an obvious allusion to the ''Piéta''.
** Foreshadowed by a mention earlier in the film: Theo's cousin managed to save [[Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti Michelangelo's]] ''David'' for the Ark of the Arts, but ''La Piéta'' was smashed up before they got there.

* BittersweetEnding: The optimistic interpretation. Depending on how you look at it, Theo either succumbs to his wounds or passes out from blood loss. Either way, Kee and her baby are alive, and The Human Project is definitely real, giving Humanity a fighting chance at survival.

* EvilIsPetty: The news broadcast at the beginning of the film that mentions the world's youngest person was killed explains that the man who shanked "Baby" Diego to death did it because Diego didn't wanted to give him an autograph.

* HellIsThatNoise: "You know that high-pitched ringing sound you hear? That 'eeeeeeeeee?' That's the sound of the ear cells dying, like their swan song. Once it's gone you'll never hear that frequency again. Enjoy it while it lasts."

** [[AvertedTrope Not all instances of the continuous shots are, though]]- while it required an almost obsessive viewing of the film, a few very minor blips here and there show that some editing of multiple shots was involved.

* PowderKegCrowd: The film opens with the youngest person ''in the world'' being shanked to death in Argentina because some asshole got homicidally impulsive when the guy didn't wanted to give him an autograph, over video footage of a big riot that probably wanted to lynch the killer. This threat also dangles in the background constantly amongst all of the melancholia, with the script having some excised scenes in which authority figures admit that rioting has reached an almost uncontrollable level. [[spoiler:The apocalyptic BlastOut at Bexhill that starts after the baby is born happens because someone couldn't stop being TriggerHappy even while witnessing what everybody InUniverse is considering a miracle.]]

* SecondAmericanCivilWar: While Britain has mostly held together in the face of the existential crisis of no children having been born in the last twenty years, in the background America has become engulfed in internal conflict and militias have seized several cities.