2007’s Children of Men, a dystopian action thriller, made just $76 million at the box office but is still remembered due to the directorial genius of Alfonso Cuaron. Far before Cuaron impressed the world, and us, with his space epic Gravity, he demonstrated his ability to produce innovative storytelling with the use of powerful single-shot sequences, which made the movie an inspiration for newer directors looking to widen their skillset.
Regardless, a recent Twitter post has once again put the spotlight on one particular single-sequence shot, which in itself results in a harrowing scene, that has the potential to scare people even years after the movie was first released.
Alfonso Cuaron went god-mode with this one scene in 2007’s Children of Men
The movie itself, set in a dystopian 2027, when humanity has delved into chaos due to rising rates of infertility among people, throws a unique concept at fans. It starred the likes of Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is the unfortunate driver in this scene.
It sees Ejiofor’s character, Luke, almost driving into an obstacle in the form of a car on fire, which is followed by an attack on the group. A horde of people then come rushing towards the vehicle, as Luke drives in reverse and attempts to escape with his friends. However, Moore’s character, Julian, ends up with a bullet right through the center of her forehead and succumbs to her death, before Clive Owen’s Theo fights back and pushes the motorcyclists attacking them off-balance.
A harrowing sequence indeed, the scene has been talked about recently once again after it was posted on Twitter by user Emir Han, who claimed that it saw the director entering god-mode:
Name a scene where a director went ‘God Mode’
I’ll start:
— Emir Han (@RealEmirHan) June 7, 2024
One cannot blame the viewers or the director’s fans, as the single-shot sequence indeed leaves us with memorable images that are bound to raise the hair, even years later.
Why is Children of Men so highly-rated?
With the obvious talent of Alfonso Cuaron on full display, Children of Men itself included a range of powerful sequences that exposed the kind of originality and tension that the director has gotten into a habit of recreating ever since. The movie is often dissected in film schools and has served as an inspiration for students all over the world.
It has the potential to teach younger filmmakers how modern technology and styles are not always required to come up with mind-numbing scenes. Instead, every director must try and inculcate his own vision and come up with different ways to creatively tell the story.
This, Cuaron did via single-sequence shots in Children of God, which resulted in multiple scenes showing his creativity and unique style. The movie in itself also served as an inspiration for Sam Mendes with respect to this 2019 war movie, 1917.
Both the critical hits follow a similar narrative, in the sense that single-shot sequences are blended together in order to create an immersive, continued experience, which increases the apparent tension and intensity in the entire narrative, as was evident in the scene referenced above.
Children of God is available to be watched on Amazon Prime.
