Film Study: Hope for Tomorrow in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men

In a near-future dystopia, Alfonso Cuarón creates a world where humanity has become infertile. Without the ability to reproduce, humanity loses its hope for the future because without children, a day will dawn when there will be no tomorrow for the human race. The protagonist, middle-aged Theo Farron, is introduced as hopelessly and apathetically going about his life until his hope is renewed when he finds purpose in protecting for Kee and her unborn child. Messianic imagery is heavily present in the 2006 film Children of Men and is embodied by Kee’s baby, who represents not only Theo’s hope, but all of humanity’s hope for the future.

In the world’s crumbling society, children represent the future and serve as symbols of hope. The film begins with the death of Baby Diego who, as the world’s youngest person was a worldwide celebrity. When Baby Diego is murdered, his death is mourned as a global disaster and a news anchor recounts his total lifespan down to minutes: “Diego, the youngest person on the earth, was 18 years, 4 months, 2 days, 16 hours and 8 minutes old” (2). While everyone around him is greatly affected by this devastating news, Theo has already accepted the hopeless reality of his world. The screenplay specifically identifies him as a “veteran of hopelessness,” saying he “gave up before the world did” (1). Diego’s death has no impact upon him as he pushes through the tearful crowd watching the television to order a coffee and continue his daily routine (1-2). Theo’s apathy remains until Kee reveals her swollen, pregnant stomach to him and he becomes reinvigorated.

When Kee reveals to Theo that she is pregnant, Theo finds purpose in protecting this young immigrant woman and her unborn child. Up until this point, Theo seems to be uninterested in the societal injustices around him, like the brutal treatment of illegal immigrants and refugees, but when he sees a pregnant woman for the first time in eighteen years, he becomes passionate and alert. He says to Miriam, “You know what this child means? …You’ve been putting [Kee] at risk. She needs the best doctors” (50). By asking for a doctor, Theo shows a sudden concern for another human’s well-being for the first time. This engaged reaction contrasts his original apathetic response to meeting Kee, which was “to take a nap” (34). Kee’s pregnancy is enough to make Theo start fighting for life again as he begins to dare to hope for the possibility of a new generation. This fight emerges when Theo “gather[s] his courage” and “storms out” after Kee, who has been taken by Luke, into a war zone (111). Theo risks his own wellbeing to bring Kee and the baby to safety; even when he gets shot and slowly and painfully bleeds to death, he continues to row the boat to meet the Human Project’s ship. In his last moments, all he cares about is Kee and the baby, shown by the way he instructs Kee how to calm her crying infant by tapping her back. Despite his pain and loss of blood, Theo smiles weakly and says, “I’m okay.” Theo truly is “okay” in the end, even in death, because he has completed his purpose and helped both his symbol of hope escape to a better tomorrow (literally embodied by the Human Project’s boat called the “Tomorrow).

Kee’s baby becomes a kind of messiah figure as she symbolizes hope to a people who have no hope for tomorrow. When Kee reveals her pregnancy to Theo, she does so in a barn, among animals, giving a strong reference to the nativity scene (Schwartzman par. 10). Nicole LaRose interprets this scene as “one of the most overtly messianic images of the film, the black Madonna bares her naked pregnant form to her Joseph” (LaRose 16). Kee’s miracle pregnancy associates her with the Virgin Mary (Schwartzman par. 10), which is further emphasized when Kee jokes with Theo that she is “a virgin” (69). After the baby girl is born, both Kee and her child are treated with awe and reverence. When Marichka sees Kee’s baby for the first time, the screenplay describes her as follows: “Her face lights up, her eyes well with tears – she has touched a miracle” (95). As Theo and Kee make their way through the apartment, citizens react to this miracle life with tears as they reach out to touch Kee or brush the baby’s garment or feet, much in the same way that Jesus’ garments are touched by the crowds, as described in the Bible (121). When the soldiers see the baby, they call a momentary cease fire and “part like the Red Sea” to allow Theo, Kee, and the baby a clear pathway through the crowd (123). These soldiers, hardened by war, kneel and make the sign of the cross as the baby goes by; others merely stand in awed silence. The hope for the future of the world that died with the death of Baby Diego is resurrected in Kee’s newborn baby girl as she becomes a kind of messiah in a dystopic world.

In Children of Men, Kee’s baby is presented as a kind of messiah figure that symbolizes the world’s hope for the future and the continuation of the human race. Even though Theo never gets to see tomorrow, he dies with a sense of fulfillment and a hope for the future. The arrival of the boat “Tomorrow” emphasizes the future that is represented in Kee’s miracle child, who symbolizes humanity’s hope for the birth of a whole new generation. This hope is expressed in the final moment of the film where the audience hears the sound of children’s voices. Children represent the possibility of a future, and one can only hope that these laughing voices are the children of tomorrow and not a mournful memory of yesterday.

---

Works Cited

LaRose, Nicole. “The Already Dead and the Posthuman Baby: Children of Men, Dystopian Worlds, and Utopian Kinship.” Humanities Education & Research Association, pp. 7-23.

Schwartzman, Sarah. “Children of Men and a Plural Messianism.” Journal of Religion & Film, vol. 13, no. 1, 2009.

The Children of Men. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton, Universal Pictures, 2006. Daily Script, www.dailyscript.com/scripts/children_of_men-script.pdf

Image from Rotten Tomatoes