Children of Men

Children of Men is a 2006 dystopian action thriller film co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The screenplay, based on P. D. James' 1992 novel The Children of Men, was credited to five writers, with Clive Owen making uncredited contributions. The film is set in 2027, when two decades of human infertility have left society on the brink of collapse. Asylum seekers seek sanctuary in the United Kingdom, where they are subjected to detention and refoulement by the government. Owen plays civil servant Theo Faron, who tries to help refugee Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) escape the chaos. Children of Men also stars Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pam Ferris, Charlie Hunnam, and Michael Caine. The film was released by Universal Pictures on 22 September, 2006, in the UK and on 25 December in the US. Critics noted the relationship between the US' Christmas opening and the film's themes of hope, redemption, and faith. Despite the limited release and lack of any clear marketing strategy during awards season by the film's distributor, Children of Men received critical acclaim and was recognised for its achievements in screenwriting, cinematography, art direction, and innovative single-shot action sequences. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. It was also nominated for three BAFTA Awards, winning Best Cinematography and Best Production Design, and for three Saturn Awards, winning Best Science Fiction Film. In 2016, it was voted 13th among 100 films considered the best of the 21st century by 117 film critics from around the world. Plot The year is 2027, when human activities have produced an ecocide with widespread deleterious effects on the environment; eighteen years of total human infertility, war and global depression threaten the collapse of human civilizations. The United Kingdom has become a police state in which immigrants (derogatorily referred to as "'fugees") are arrested and either imprisoned or executed; still, as one of the few remaining nations with a functioning government, it is deluged by refugees fleeing chaos in their own countries. The story begins just after the youngest person in the world, 18-year-old "Baby" Diego Ricardo, has been killed; Theo Faron, a former activist turned cynical bureaucrat, catches the news in a coffee shop. Moments after he leaves the shop, it explodes in a bombing.