Redemption In Alfonso Cuarón's Children Of Men

As one of the first films marketed as a teaching text, Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men (2006) depicts an apocalyptic world which relies on the growth and establishment of new communities in order to find redemption. Set in London, 2027, the viewer follows the anti-hero, Theo, on his journey of self redemption. Living in a nation which is in a constant state of warfare as the government hunts down illegal immigrants, Theo becomes involved with a terrorist group rebelling against the system which results in him having to protect an unmarried young black immigrant woman, Kee, who is the first woman to bear a child in eighteen years. Cuarón creates a realistic, modern dystopia through contemporary fears of nuclear warfare, terrorism, environmental
catastrophes, and cultural loss as a result of rapid globalization. I argue that in the “Ark of Arts” sequence Cuarón uses specific aspects of mise-en-sene such as setting to convey one of the film’s overall themes of global capitalism creating segregation among the population through the establishment fear. As the sequence begins, the viewer is immediately made aware of the state of dystopia that London has become.
Theo is being escorted in a Rolls Royce to his cousin Nigel’s home, “The Ark of Arts”, as he passes crowds of people dressed in dark, battered clothing, travelling by foot or on bicycle through the streets. The car passes a group who are worshiping the lord dressed in yellow ponchos with the word “REPENT” plastered to their chests. They hold up signs which blame the sins of mankind for the plague of infertility as a single man preaches about the earthquakes, disease, and famine the Lord has brought down upon the world as punishment. The placement of this doomsday cult within the setting of the sequence is a strategic use of mise-en-scene by the director which assists the viewer’s understanding of how the government instills fear in the nation and that fear turns into blame. In the documentary “The Possibility of Hope”, Philosopher and Cultural Critic Slavoj Zizek explains his opinion that the “main mode of politics is fear. … Political groups today are banks of people who are afraid, who are mobilized by fear. Fear of immigrants, fear of leftists, … fear of taxation. … This is [the] definition of infertility” in the segment on fear (6:05). The cult’s fear of the destruction of the Earth segregates them from the rest of society and they rebel against the government through protests and political
activism. After travelling through the streets, of what the viewer can assume is the lower class of this dystopian society, the car passes through a gate which is guarded by military personnel dressed in dark camouflage clothing and holding weapons. As the car is let through the heavy, iron gates, more soldiers are on the other side in greater numbers and armed with, not just guns, but tanks as well. This shot exhibits the presence of control points in which only the upper class have access to certain areas of the city. Cuarón has used the presence of gated communities to illustrate the border between the lower and upper classes of society and how the government has used fear through the presence of weaponization to segregate the population. Not only are the control checkpoints meant to exclude the poor, but they are also meant to establish fear and conformity among the lower class. An increased awareness of borders, and the rapid increase of signs/symbols of overt nationalism, link to perceived national crises such as what Americans experienced with the 9/11 terrorist attacks as stated by Amago (Samuel Amago). Taking a look at the sequence, the presence of these control checkpoints confines the rest of society into disparate environments, one of filth where the poor cannot afford gas to run cars and one where the rich own exotic animals, such as zebras, as pets, and citizens are more likely to rebel against the government through violent uprisings such as terrorist attacks.