ComparingChildren of Men': Book and Movie Exploration

I finished reading Children of Men this weekend. The book is a social commentary on Sex, Family, Love, Hope, and Religion. With this being said, it is a very honest and open look at issues man has surrounding these important dynamics in our lives. In many cases I found it sad. This as the desired effect as the book is a dystopia. The book itself ends on an up note, but everything is not all happy as there is a warning wrapped in it.

I think the book will be one of the top 5 to 10 books I’ve read in my lifetime.

Also this weekend, I went and saw the movie Children of Men. What was most fascinating about the movie is what has changed. The most vivid example of the difference between the books and movie is that Luke in the books is a white Episcopalian Priest with epilepsy. In the movies he is a black terrorist who is second in command of the Fishes. Another example of the differences is the movie starts around chapter 20 of a book with only 32 chapters. Overall the themes of the movie are Hope, Politics, Justice, and Freedom. Missing are all the themes of Family, Sexuality, and Love.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the movie is good, but it suffers from the politics of the five screenplay writers. Also the movie has some of the strongest documentary style scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie. One sequence near the end of the movie is amazing when you think it’s all one continuous shot.

Of course as always I could spend many hours blabbering on about both works of art. But I think I’ll end with the Psalm that the author used as the title of the book. It should be noted that his Psalm is a written by Moses.

Psalm 90 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.