It\u2019s been two decades since Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n conjured a terrifying vision of future dystopian Britain in Children Of Men<\/em> \u2013 which, given it\u2019s set in 2027, is on the cusp of no longer being future. The film, based on PD James\u2019 novel, is set in a world where the human race has become mysteriously infertile, sending society into a literal death-spiral \u2013 until Clive Owen\u2019s everyman Theo is charged with transporting somehow-pregnant youngster Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) across the country to safety. With ambitious long-takes, visceral setpieces, and an all-star cast (remember hippie stoner Michael Caine?), the film has become a landmark of \u201800s cinema \u2013 despite struggling at the box office on release.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Reflecting on the film 20 years later in Empire<\/em>, Cuar\u00f3n opened up about why Children Of Men<\/em> has grown in stature so much over the years. \u201cThematically, it feels more present, I guess,\u201d he says. \u201cBut for me, ultimately, what was interesting when I was doing it \u2014 together with the social-political exploration \u2014 was more the dilemma. There is a speech we have in the film: \u2018Everything is a mythical battle between faith and chance.\u2019 How much can we do? How much can we just stay out of it? And I guess that that\u2019s something that people struggle with every day. In particular, when there are times of distress, you get to question yourself more about those things.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n While we\u2019re thankfully not experiencing a global fertility crisis, the time since Children Of Men<\/em>\u2019s release has given us a worldwide pandemic, devastating wars, and natural disasters, broadcast to us 24\/7 via smartphones and social media. Today\u2019s reality is far from easy. \u201cI think that everybody is pretty much well-informed about what\u2019s happening in the world,\u201d reflects Cuar\u00f3n of today’s Britain. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily knowledge, but it\u2019s information. The world is so in your face. And people feel a reaction. You can see it on social media. They feel a reaction, and then they might write a very elaborate comment stating their position and all of that stuff, and then they scroll a little bit, and then they [get distracted by] some boots that they want to buy. [It all happens] at a very frantic speed, without any time of reflection in-between.\u201d Here\u2019s hoping the next 20 years make Children Of Men<\/em> feel a little less present, eh?<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read Empire<\/em>\u2019s full Children Of Men<\/em> 20th anniversary interview with Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n in the Narnia: The Magician\u2019s Nephew issue, on sale Thursday September 24. Pre-order a copy online here.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s been two decades since Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n conjured a terrifying vision of future dystopian Britain in Children Of Men \u2013 which, given it\u2019s set in 2027, is on the cusp of no longer being future. The film, based on PD James\u2019 novel, is set in a world where the human race has become mysteriously infertile, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14573,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14571\/revisions\/14573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Empire](\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/alfonso-cuaron-on-why-children-of-men-holds-up-20-years-later-it-feels-more-present.jpg\")
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