Moved To Tears

Yes, I want to talk about a movie now and not when it came out (2006). I know that it wasn’t that long ago, but given the short attention span of our society, it probably feels like 40 years ago to some of my sister’s readers (I’m looking at you Meredith). Anyway, the reason I am bringing up an old(er) movie is because I watched it again the other night and cried like a little boy. Ok I didn’t cry like a little boy, but tears came to my eyes with some force and if I hadn’t held them back I would have definitely blubbered. To be fair, it wasn’t completely because of the movie – for some reason when I haven’t cried in a while (which is the case here, I think the last time was in 8th or 9th grade)….my tears become determined to break me down completely so that I have to really fight to keep from going into full wail while in the fetal position. Maybe I just need a good cry….i should get “the girls” together and we can watch Jerry Maguire and talk about how guys have treated us bad and…….wait, that wouldn’t work….i would have to be….able to watch Tom Cruise without getting angry and breaking something nearby (last time it was a friend’s face…sorry Mandy). Wow I kind of go off subject pretty easily don’t I. Anyway…..the movie was (is) Children of Men. The reason I am writing about it is because after the tears and the time spent wondering why I like this movie so much, I feel like I need to have something to show for it – and a lamely written blog will do just fine. Ok, if you haven’t seen it, see it, but for now – here is a brief synopsis:
The women of the world have been unable to have children for 18 years. Scientists don’t know why. This has caused society to fall apart as they all think mankind will die off slowly and they will be the last generation. England “soldiers on” (as their government says) and has become a totalitarian state where fertility tests are required and immigrants who sneak into England from the rest of the war-torn world are hunted down and treated like animals. The main character, through his ex-wife (an anti-governmental rebel leader), meets a girl who turns out to be pregnant – the first pregnancy on Earth in almost 20 years. He is tasked with getting her to a secret group that is conducting fertility research. The scene that brings tears to my eyes every time I see it is when the woman, her baby (the woman having had the baby the night before), and the main character are trapped in a building in the middle of an immigrant prison. The occupants of the prison (an entire walled city) had risen up against the government and it’s response had been to send the army in to brutally put down the uprising. The building is surrounded by government troops and it is full of desperate immigrants who had come to England to escape atrocities but was greeted by still more at the hands of the English government. When the main character finds the woman and her baby in the building, with the battle raging, he helps them toward the only exit. As they walk down the hall, with the baby crying in her arms, the refugees all stop to stare at the newborn. One woman, bleeding heavily from her stomach, starts crying and reaches out toward the baby. As they near the entrance, the immigrant fighters stop firing to stare and are soon joined in their staring by their enemies, the government troops. When they emerge from the building’s entrance, the attacking troops all stop fighting and stare at the newborn – some kneel and cross themselves. The silence is soon interrupted, though, by an RPG and the battle rages on. The reason why i love this scene so much is because i think it is a chillingly accurate depiction of mankind.
The "character" of the English government and of the illegal immigrants both represent, to me, a picture of our condition as human beings. On the one hand, the English government in the movie is absolutely focused on control - no matter the cost. Even faced with such a miracle as the first birth in 20 years, they would not see a miracle, but a threat to the fear that has given them absolute power. They see desperate immigrants as another threat to their power as these "undesirables" would bring new, unknown cultures and possibly some greater numbers to rebel groups in England which would work to undermine their governing authority. To maintain their power, the government becomes almost "desperate" themselves - they hunt the immigrants down like cockroaches and treat them like pests - beating them, killing them, and deporting them. On the other hand, the illegal immigrants show us what it means to be at rock bottom. They have no control in their lives and are at the mercy of the government - not only are they starving, but they are persecuted, abandoned, hated, ignored, and wounded - body and soul.
In my eyes, the government in Children of Men is what we as humans fight for - complete control over our destiny and our "free" choices. We may not get to the point of desperation as the government in the movie, but we spend most of our lives trying to control all we can in our lives and what influences our lives - from who we help ("be careful, you dont know what they are capable of"), who we love ("who will satisfy my desires?"), what we buy ("how will this make me happy or impress who i want impressed?"), or who we "serve" ("this buffet-style G(g)od suits me - take what i want, leave what i dont").
The immigrants show us what we truly are. Starving, dead or dying. Wounded. Desperate. Unloved. Trapped. Hunted. Like the Supertones said, "Who I am is in between what i want to be and what i am" - we want to be in control, and think we are a lot of the time - but what we truly are is dead.
That is why i love it when the baby blows all that away as soon as both sides lay eyes on it. They realize that what they are fighting for is nothing in the face of this miracle - there is now hope for mankind. In much the same way, when both sides of us (the controlling dictatorial state and the desperate starving orphan) lay eyes on Jesus Christ, our world's baby and hope for mankind, we see at least for the moment that what we fight for pales in comparison to what this baby means in eternity - and our place in it. We can quit fighting desperately for control and give in to the only one qualified to lead. We can find salvation from our desperate state in the same way - by turning to this "baby" - the first one born since the foundation of the world, and also the last.