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How Did Cuaron Use Hope In Children Of Men

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In the film, Children of Men, director Alfonso Cuaron explores the topic of hope and despair throughout. In order to do so, Cuaron manipulates the film's bleak, yet chaotic dystopian setting, and uses several effective film techniques in scenes such as “the birthing scene”, “the barn scene”, and “the cease-fire scene”. By doing this, Cuaron introduces the viewer to the main theme of the film, that despair is a destructive force that can hinder an individual and in turn, a society, but hope has a transformative quality that can inversely empower a population.

Alfonso Cuaron’s deliberate use of film techniques in the birthing scene well introduces the viewer to Children of Men’s main subjects of hope and despair. His effective use of lighting, for example, helps show the viewer how extreme the contrast between despair and hope is within a dystopian setting. In the birthing scene, the use of light is minimised, as a sole lamp illuminates the room. The lamp casts bright white light all over Theo, Kee, …show more content…

Director Alfonso Cuaron is able to convey a strong message that relates quite closely to our peaceful, yet unstable society through several highly effective film techniques that accentuate the setting. He uses techniques such as lighting, to emphasise the stark contrast between hope and despair. He includes cows as props, to show the societal difference between women and animals, as to highlight the hope of Kee's pregnancy. Lastly, he manipulates sound effects, using the miraculous sounds of a baby on top of the monotonous drone of gunfire, and using haunting music to provide an eerie sense of calm. Together, these film techniques contribute greatly to our development and understanding of the film's underlying theme, that despair has a destructive effect on an individual and a population, but hope is transformative and beneficial to a dystopian

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