"Children of Men" - Opening Analysis

Children of Men:

Opening Analysis

Children of Men, a film by Alfonso Cuaron, depicts a world in the near future in which Humanity has gone sterile for unknown reasons. Since people can no longer have children, social order has collapsed and quality of life has deteriorated. Only England stands, although life there isn't so great either. The opening scene of this movie establishes the grim repressiveness of this dystopian world through an unrelenting realism.   

The clip opens with a quick cut with absolutely no exposition, unlike many conventions science fiction films such as Star Wars This storytelling method creates more of a natural integration into the film's lore/background, as we are able to piece together the story by what is evident in the mise-en-scene. Everyone in the coffee shop are gathered around at the TV watching a new report on the "death of the worlds youngest person". What is odd about this new report is the victim, a 23 year old, is referred to as a baby. The oddness of this situation not explained but ignored, treated as if it were a normality.

The audience is still thrown off as the context is not explained, however as the man  leaves the coffee shop, we are immediately brought to light as it is reveled the story takes place in a futuristic London, with diagetic street sounds, classic London double Decker buses, juxtaposed with tuk-tuks and hints of urban poverty such as piles of garbage on the street.

As we are still adjusting to the new London, Cuaron  successfully throws us off by incorporating an explosion scene. This worked so effectively as the entire intro has been shot in one continuous tracking shot. When the camera follows Clive Owen out on the streets, he heads to a booth where he prepares his coffee. This seamless effect created by the tracking shot and the normality of the situation with all diagetic street sounds and city environment, leaves us feeling comfortable, therefore when the explosion happen out of the blue, we are immediately stunned.

The impact of the false sense of security Cuaron established as the audience in disbelief as the explosion feel too real due to the accurate setting of a realistic scenario through environmental mise-en-scene. What makes this explosion more real and possibly the closest to real life is show when a woman walks out looking dazed and unharmed but as the camera pans towards her, it is revealed she is holding her left arm in shock. Ultimately, the entire opening sequence skillfully crafted by Cuaron puts us into suspense as we want to see what happens next after the title screen. We want to debunk the ambiguity,to what the story is really about and have answers for our many questions revealed, "Why is there a 23 year old baby?", "Why is London a third-world country?", "Is this the future? "What happened and how?"....