Children of Men - A Critical Review

Running head: CHILDREN OF MEN – A CRITICAL REVIEW
Children of Men – A Critical Review
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Author Note

1CHILDREN OF MEN – A CRITICAL REVIEW
Asylum seekers in a country, including women and their dependent children have the
right to seek a life that is characterized by dignity, safety and security as it is often the act of
persecution that drives them to apply for refuge in other countries. The movie, Children of
Men, released in 2006, does a marvelous job of highlighting the haplessness and
precariousness of refugees, and women and child refugees in particular, in countries of
asylum, the latter often being overburdened due to such immigration flows and who often
task recourse to inhumane policies and methods to deal with the problems that are posed by
an influx of refugees (Eckstein 1). This essay critically analyzes the movie, Children of Men,
with a special focus on the movie’s chief protagonist Theo Faron, analyzing the position that
is supported by the movie, the position that is opposed by the movie, the manner in which it
investigates issues pertaining to refugees and asylum seekers especially helpless women and
child refugees , how it furthers already existing norms in society, how it challenges such
norms, the cautions that are raised by the movie and finally, the evidence that it offers to
support the fact that refugees and asylum seekers, especially women asylum seekers who
have children or who are pregnant with children require empathy, solace and comfort rather
than being at the receiving end of the hostility of people and the administration of the
countries where they seek refuge, in this instance, the United Kingdom.
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, the British American movie Children of Men which was
released worldwide in the year 2006, supports the position that refugees and illegal migrants
have the right to asylum or safe living conditions, since it is conditions such as war, poverty,
persecution, and a threat to their very existence that compel them to make a move to a new
country for asylum and shelter in the first place and that women and children of a refugee
population have the right to safety, dignity and protection (Dorothy 1). It is evident through
the actions of Theo Faron, the protagonist in the movie, who escorts Kee, a pregnant refugee
woman to safety risking his own life in the process, that the attitude of humanity to refugee

2CHILDREN OF MEN – A CRITICAL REVIEW
and forced migration issues should be one of tolerance and empathy instead of rejection and
hostility (Dorothy 1). Theo does so partly, out of a sense of personal loss, given that he and
his partner Julian Taylor, who is now is foe and a member of the Fishes, lost their son Dylan
to death, some years ago. This is evident in the following quote by the character Jasper, from
the movie, “Yeah, there you go! Julian and Theo met among a million protesters in a rally by
chance. But they were there because of what they believed in the first place, their faith. They
wanted to change the world. And their faith kept them together. But by chance, Dylan was
born”. To this, the pregnant refugee woman Kee responds, “This is him”?. To this Jasper
further responds, “Yeah, that's him. He'd have been about your age. Magical child. Beautiful.
Their faith put in praxis...Chance. He was their sweet little dream. He had little hands, little
legs, little feet. Little lungs. And in 2008, along came the flu pandemic. And then, by chance,
he was gone. You see, Theo's faith lost out to chance. So, why bother if life's going to make its
own choices?”.
The position that the movie, Children of Men, goes against, is the position that
advocates hostility and oppression towards migrant communities. Such oppression and
hostility is engaged in on the part of the British administration in the movie, towards refugees
and asylum seekers, which in turn invites resistance from a group of refugee militants known
as the Fishes. What the movie conveys through the fighting that ensues between the Fishes
and the British State, and the violence that such fighting perpetrates, is that the attitude of the
state and of the people of a nation that receives asylum seekers, should be one of compassion
and tolerance, since refugees are not their enemies, but people who need their help and
support in order to be safe avoid death, and lead lives of dignity once again (Kaplan 1).
The struggle faced by refugees and asylum seekers, especially women and children in
the country of asylum is investigated by the movie, Children of Men, well enough by
highlighting the struggle that civil society, and activists in particular have to go through, in