[Revi]

Jericho sounds like a very interesting show. I saw a few episodes, and then lost track of it.

Children of Men shows us what's left of the world long after the bombs have dropped. There hasn't been a child born in over 18 years. Britain soldiers on. The rest of the world has fallen into mayhem. Despite this, it's actually a hopeful movie. A lot like where we are at now. There is a tiny ray of hope.

[SoothSayer]

I have watched ALL the episodes of Jericho in the last week.

I have also watched Children Of Men in the last couple of days too.

I can now say that Jericho is poorly written, low budget, typical adolescent American hogwash.

Children Of Men is in contrast very well made - although the storyline is a bit odd.
The "loss of fertility" thread is buried by the "Britain Falling Apart in 20 Years Time" message.

The final part of the film really does tie in with the way I expect Britain to be in 20 or 30 years time. As the sales assistant said when I bought the DVD: "This is really grim". He was not wrong.

[Revi]

The Children of Men was a very interesting movie. I liked the way they depicted London as just a bit grungier than it is now, with some of the same vehicles, like double decker busses still roaming around. Small motorized rickshaws powered by small dirtbikes shuttled important people around town. It's not that hard to imagine this kind of thing happening in 20 years. We'll be down by a signifigant amount by then, and the population will be up. The movie's scenario would actually be a great way to shrink the population. If no children were born for 20 years it would shrink our numbers through attrition, instead of what might happen.

[simontay78]

The hidden house in the forest is one of those homes that most of peakoilers want to have!! Maybe add a few small crops and bunker type options.

There should be some traps and stuff to prevent break in....haiz but anyway the movie is one of those really moving and exciting at the same time. Bleak...yes.

The gun impacts are pretty and chickens and goats in building? Wow...

When a tank rolls down your street...what do you do?

By the way this movie employ the latest camera recording technique that does the longest one take per scene...in most of their action scenes!! VERY REALISTIC!

Ok enough said...go see it!!

[Revi]

It was a heck of a film. Action, drama. It has it all. I liked the peak oilish theme, but I think anyone would be drawn in to the movie. It's a thriller, that's for sure.

[xerces]

Just saw the movie on DVD. It was rediculously good, but very grim.

There were quite a few digs at the current WOT and immigration policy. All in all, one of the best distopian films ever.


Still, I think the doomer level is a bit high.

[Revi]

I think it has the potential to be way worse than this movie depicts. What if in 2020 we have half the oil we are getting now, and half again as many people? It would be even more crowded and chaotic. In this movie 18 years of baby drought has probably cut the population down considerably. There are less and less people in the work force, and the amount of everything has dwindled as a result, and still, Britain soldiers on.

Anyway, I've always loved distopian fiction. This is one of the best movies in this genre. Right up there with Soylent Green.

[topcat]

Watched it this weekend. Thought my wife would not be too keen on it but she did not mind it. Expected it to be worse in one way or another. Maybe I was just caught up in the plot and the actors.

It was rather bleak and provided me with a couple of ideas/plans I had not thought of before.

Agree with the previous poster regarding that this was a scenario without children for quite some time. Just thing of the pain that would have been present with young children in such a scenario.

[WildRose]

I just watched the movie. It was really very grim. To me, it seemed that it would be impossible to live a decent life in the conditions depicted, unless you were someone like Michael Caine's character, living in his sustainable home in the country. The city was a disaster. Theo, the main character, and others like him who still had a job that allowed him to live, passed through train stations every day that were manned by heavily armed military, keeping the poor and starving, begging at the stations, from bothering those getting off the trains from their jobs, who would be seen, I suppose, as "contributors to society" and worth protecting. There was a reference to "suicide kits" and images of people jumping off buildings, several at once. The situation was very grim for immigrants.

All through the movie, there were images you could associate with a total societal crash, filth everywhere, people begging for something to eat, abandoned buildings where people huddled together like sardines and kept chickens, a flock of sheep running through the city. In the countryside, there was evidence of polluted sky and water, lots of dead livestock, desperate people running in groups. There was mention of a flu pandemic in 2008. Did anyone else catch the line, by a radio announcer as he introduced a song, "Here's a blast from the past, from 2003, a time when people refused to believe the future that was around the corner?" (not exactly quoted, but almost).

Chilling, and very well done.

[Revi]

I liked the way the movie slowly let you know what was going on. I agree, everyone was living a life diminished. I'll bet life in what was a fairly civilized country like Iraq is a lot like the movie. People are still trying to live a normal life, but the world is deteriorating around them.

[Shea]

I completely agree with Revi that "Children of Men" is strongly evocative of what our future may be like. Director Alfonso Cuaron has created a stunning, incredibly moving film that really has to seen, I think, without any preconceptions, and to just let the movie roll over you like a wave. In interviews Mr. Cuaron has commented that his goal is that the real movie begins in your head ten minutes after the film has ended. That is, to create a stunningly original, yet completely convincing world, into which you are drawn almost against your will.

In time, I think this film will be regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made. In the meantime, it also presents a very convincing look into a society that has been worn down by constant, unremitting crisis. That is very much what post-Peak Oil has to offer us. Together we'll find a path through a pathless wilderness, or together we will perish.

[Blueberry]

Did anyone see the movie "Children of Men" ?

Children of Men

And, if so, did anyone think it resembles a future you see with peak/various other problems surfacing?

I think it did a good job of showing how some remnants of society survive in war/crisis situations.

IMO, too often, sci-fi forgets about classism -- some people having lots and some having none, etc.

One thing, I notice there was quite a bit of gasoline being used, but the premise was that only England survived with a society somewhat intact.

Great movie, btw.

[What_Went_Wrong]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing man. The parts which stood out to me the most (being a British citizen) where the cages to hold the immigrants and the Islamic/christen movements coming out in full force because god has gotten 'angry'. Not to mention a return to good old 'Briton soldiers on while the world collapses' propaganda. These guys put a lot of thought into this.

One of the best movies I've seen in a long time, and probably the last great movie I'll ever see

[Revi]

We have been discussing Children of Men in Book/media reviews too. I loved the movie. It is strangely hopeful after all. Britain soldiers on. It presents a dystopia, but strangely similar to what we have now. The lack of children represents a lack of hope.

Here's page 2 of the thread on Book/Media Reviews:

http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic27264-15.html

[Blueberry]

what went wrong -- I felt there was a lot of thought put into it, too. Excellent movie.

Revi -- I'll have to check that thread out -- sorry, I didn't see it first.

[TheTurtle]

I returned from a long haiatus and merged a similar thread from the Psychology forum into this pre-existing thread.

I apologize for any confusion.

[Revi]

That's fine. Children of Men is out on DVD. It's probably a good movie to see twice, because there are a lot of details that you might miss when seen only one time through. Syrianna was like that. The second time through I caught the peak oil reference.

[ReducedToZero]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mechler', 'I') agree, this movie is very powerful. V for Vendetta meets Saving Private Ryan.

I'm not sure PO was consideration in the screenplay, but I think someone was smart enough to realize that in such a bleak future as this movie is set in, tanker shipments of oil would be a thing of the past. There are several shots of, presumably, dirty coal/trash/wood-fired power plants belching out pollution. With all the social commentary in the movie, I was surprised that sea-level rise due to global warming wasn't worked into the movie. There is a strange Pink Floyd reference, though. Anyone know the significance of that?

Regardless, I think this movie gives a glimpse of what first-world countries may be like in the not-too-distant future.

[mos6507]

[snip]