CHILDREN OF MEN

When Children Of Men was first released, its depiction of an economically ravaged Britain, slamming its doors shut to refugees and immigrants, seemed comfortingly improbable. Now, 12 years on, with Trump in the White House, Brexit on the horizon and the right on the rise, it appears worryingly, grimly prescient.

Set in a near-future (2027 specifically) where two decades of human infertility has left society on the brink of collapse, it’s a devastatingly unvarnished view of a future that appears, at the moment at least, terrifyingly plausible. An essential watch.

Extras It’s a testament to Children Of Men’s hallowed standing that so few of the special features of this BD reissue are vacuous star-centic hypeathons. Instead of Clive Owen and Julianne Moorefronted features, it’s up to academics like author and critic Bryan Reesman (audio commentary), BFI movie writer Kat Ellinger and film historian Philip Kemp to lecture their way through the special features. Most are held over from the previous BD release, but the new featurettes, both 22 minutes long, have the benefit of historical hindsight. Kemp’s documentary talks about the movie from a Brexit 2018 perspective, while Ellinger’s visual essay draws parallels with other end-of-the-world fictions such as The Last Man On Earth and The End Of August At The Hotel Ozone. Steve O’Brien