Setting In The Film 'Children Of Men' By Alfonso Cuaron

Setting in a film is vital in order to understand the characters. In the film “Children of Men” narrated by Alfonso Cuaron, the dystopian setting in London 20207 in the near future helped me understand the main character of Theo. This essay will describe the opening scene where Theo lives his own life, when he protects Kee after telling him that she is pregnant and the closing scene where he sacrifices his life for her in the civil war against the government and the political party “Fishes”.

The film begins with Theo exiting a coffee shop while a crowd of people watched the news about the youngest person to pass away called Diego (2009-2027). Soft music played in the background whilst the news reporter’s voice dominated the scene. The customers

The herd of cows that surround her symbolise the beginning of a new life and the diegetic sound of cows mooing play in the background along with the “Ruby Tuesday” soundtrack by the Beetles. A close up shot of Kee and Theo focuses on their relationship and then zooms onto Theo’s face of realisation. At first, Theo didn’t know how to react apart from saying “She’s pregnant” but he then takes care of her and runaway together from the political party “Fishes” which was trying to use her baby as a political tool. Kee and Theo’s relationship starts to grow after the shocking news as he feels like it’s his responsibly to take care of her as she was Theo’s late ex partner’s refugee friend. Theo’s ex-partner Julian was the leader of the “Fishes” and they had a baby boy together until he passed away from the flu

All the soldiers bow down to her as she walks past which symbolises that a baby is a miracle of life in this non-futuristic setting shown by the hand held camera following her every step and a point of view shot from Kee’s perspective looking at the lined up soldiers. Their journey throughout this whole movie is so they can go onto the ship called the “Tomorrow Land”. Theo tells Kee that he’s been shot during the war shown by the puddles of blood on the boat. Dark lighting is shown throughout the film creating a dull environment and the sadness that Kee feels when Theo is slowly dying whilst stranded on sea. He passes on baby knowledge to her to reassure Kee that “you will be okay” and that the baby will be safe in her arms shown by a triangular shot of Kee giving the baby to Theo to see how to hold her chid. A mid-shot of Kee holding her baby symbolises the mother daughter relationship that would soon grow with a halo light effect. The light shining form the buoy gives a sense of hope as the baby has stopped crying and that the “Tomorrow Land” would arrive shown by a long