The British government that exists in Children of Men is more savage in its indictment of alleged terrorists, including an expulsion of all non-British citizens into internment camps. Cuaron simultaneously looks to the past of Nazi Germany and the more recent past of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, Abu Ghraib, soldiers who work for Homeland Security, and posters encouraging citizens to inform on suspected illegal aliens. This is also a future where cars sometime require jump starts. One scene that could be described as fantastic involves Danny Huston job to preserve the last remaining examples of Western art, including a recontructed "David" from Michelangelo missing a leg, Picasso's "Guernica" on his office wall, and the Pink Floyd pig floating outside. Into this mix is a young woman who finds herself pregnant and in danger, both for being an illegal alien and to keep from having her baby used for political purposes. Cuaron looks at political idealism lost, held onto, rediscovered or corrupted.

While Clive Owen is the reluctant protector of the pregnant young woman, and former idealist with a renewed sense of mission, Michael Caine is the heart of the film. As one of the most visible stars who made his mark in the Sixties, Caine's presence is a kind of signpost of an era of both turbulence and idealism. Underneath the uncharacterist hippie hairdo is the familiar grin, with Caine as last true believer from the Viet-Nam era. The soundtrack provides an aurel commentary with late Sixties and early Seventies nuggets from Deep Purple and King Crimson, as well as odd cover versions of The Beatles and Rolling Stones.

Children of Men does not offer the wish-fulfillment fantasy of V for Vendetta. The conclusion is guardedly optimistic. The premise that "the future is now" is a familiar trope for science fiction. In the hands of Alfonso Cuaron, the message in Children of Men is both urgent and eloquent.