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Notes -
This is what I wrote about it
The Children of Men is a book about a world with ultra-low fertility, in other words, an extreme version of a world that we already live in. I had a friend's birthday party at the park a couple weeks ago (I'm getting close to 30 unfortunately), and I noticed that out of the 20 or so couples there, only one had a child. And I think this is becoming increasingly true over the whole entire world. Many of the downstream aspects of this fact also seem to be shared between James' novel and reality: the prevalence of pet parents, the lack of interest in the future of society (but a fixation on the past), and an obsession with health and safety at all costs.
Beyond the social commentary, the actual plot of the novel is a little lackluster. It centers on an Oxford Professor of History, Theo, who happens to be the cousin of the dictator of England. Theo lives a pretty unremarkable and utterly selfish life (even before the "Omega" where most men suddenly become infertile), until he becomes involved with a rebel group that wants to enact some minor changes in the governmental system, but more importantly, is sheltering a woman who happens to be pregnant. Theo's time with this group changes his inner and outer lives almost completely: it's amazing what hope for the future does to an individual, although I was left wondering at the end how much would really change in England after the birth of this child.
Having children is no basis for a moral system in of itself (this was Chesterton's critique of H.G. Wells), but it sure as hell makes constructing a society a hell of a lot easier. Unfortunately I think our world is headed to a future more similar to what James envisioned in the 1990s. People simply aren't having children: I'm guilty of this too: it's not like I'm close to being married even. And that, I think, means that this society isn't very long for this world.
The movie is pretty faithful but plays up the immigration (there are migrant laborers from poor countries to help with labor shortages) aspect a bit more for woke points.
On the book, I thought was just okay, 100/100 on premise and 45/100 on execution; the book has more fighting over control of the baby. For the movie, I watched it first was a teenager and absolutely loved it as an action flick, the scenes of urban warfare and the baby crying were powerful, 100/100. Watching the movie as an adult was an emotional gut punch; knowing couples who have struggles with fertility hits home in a raw way. The scenes on the prisoners I think predates our current migrant (fugees for refugees) crisis (but I probably wasn't paying attention) and I took more Holocaust vibes from it. The scene that sticks with me is an old Polish couple on the bus, and the man asking for food by meekly gesturing, and is ignored by all.
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Thanks for the review. It's on my bookshelf, I might give it a go in the new year.
It's a quick read. Took me a few days.
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