Reed’s Eighth Favorite Film

8. CHILDREN OF MEN

When I first saw Alfonso Cuaron’s masterpiece, I watched it casually as a recommendation from a friend. Little did I realize its story would exponentially grow in my heart and mind as the years progressed. In a futuristic world, women cannot conceive children. The world is steadily decaying with this realization and amidst this turbulent scenario, one man stumbles across a frightened young pregnant girl. What follows is a journey about death (and ultimately rebirth in a very literal sense). There are too many themes at play in this movie to do justice in a single paragraph, but what most inspires me about the film is the heartbeat at its center that with new beginnings (specifically the birth of a new generation) comes hope. Hope like that is not only worth fighting for, but worth giving your all to see it come forth. As a man of faith, this theme speaks very loudly to me and the journey that Clive Owen’s character takes in this movie is one of the most beautiful illustrations of it I have ever seen.