Children of Men Scene Analysis: “The Opening Scene”
Today I felt like looking into one of the best scenes of Children of Men, which coincidentally is one of the best film openers ever made. Without further introduction, let’s get into it.
Scene Comes From: Children of Men
Where to Watch: For purchase/rent on streaming services
Scene Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSdL1zeOfdk
Scene Context
Humans have become infertile and the world has been ravaged by military government.
Scene Conflicts
- The world is in shock based on the day’s news
- Theo wants to get on with his day
Scene Outline
- A crowd of people watch reports of the murder of “Baby Diego”.
- Theo wades through the crowd and orders his coffee.
- Theo watches the report, which reveals Diego was the youngest person in the world, at 18 years old.
- Theo gets his coffee and leaves as news-watchers cry.
- Theo, outside in industrial London, starts to pour alcohol into his coffee as the coffee shop he just left explodes.
Why It Works
Definition by Juxtaposition: While everyone else is frozen in place, Theo moves. Without a line of spoken dialogue, we are given an exemplary rundown of our protagonist. This is someone who doesn’t feel like everyone else. He’s not concerned with the world anymore and, made evident by his alcoholism, would rather forget the harsh reality he’s stuck in.
Thematic Foreshadowing: Because Theo leaves the coffee shop and refuses to watch and pity his world, he survives. No spoilers for the film here, but this is a key theme to the entirety of the story world. Those who are stuck in self-pity will lose out to those who find ways to move forward.
Surprise over Suspense. 90 percent of the time, you should go for suspense. There’s a ton of people way more qualified than me which can explain this. But, in this specific instance, it’s the shock inherent in the explosion that grabs us. We need to be in the same mindstate as our protagonist in the opening, and so to go for the lack of explanation in the explosion was a sincerely wise decision.
Hard Exit: Right after the explosion, the scene’s over. There’s no explanation given as to the cause of the explosion, and no need to see the aftermath. All we need to know is Theo’s alive. You should never spend more time in a scene than you need, and right when we see that Theo isn’t killed by the bomb, the scene’s over and we can move onto the next piece of the story.
Summary
In two minutes, without a single line of dialogue, we have a strikingly concise idea of who Theo is and the world he’s unwillingly apart of. As far as openings go, it’s harder to find a more efficient and impactful opening than this one.
