Art imitating life?

The other day, I wrote something here about last week’s Newsweek cover on the allegedly global trend toward a ‘culture of childlessness,’ as it was spun. As I was writing, the dark absurdity of it all struck me. Which made me recall a movie preview I’d recently seen about an upcoming film titled “Children of Men.”

Here’s how the studio promo describes it:

“Based on a P.D. James science-fiction novel, Children of Men is set in a futuristic dsytopia where humankind is on the brink of extinction and a sole pregnant woman holds the key to survival.”

It looks really bleak, this society of the future, and I looked into it a bit more when I noticed the release date is December 25.

The online promo opens with a nearly black page, the title “Children of Men,” and this secondary heading:

NO CHILDREN. NO FUTURE. NO HOPE.

How chillingly bleak. The description follows:

Children of Men envisages a world one generation from now that has fallen into anarchy on the heels of an infertility defect in the population. The worlds youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction.

Set against a backdrop of London torn apart by violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows disillusioned bureaucrat Theo (Clive Owen) as he becomes an unlikely champion of Earth’s survival. When the planet’s last remaining hope is threatened, this reluctant activist is forced to face his own demons and protect her from certain peril.

Wow. Intended or not, this mirrors the exact path a society would be on if it followed the Newsweek’s scenario of a “culture of childlessness.” And yes, you sometimes have to exaggerate a point to make the point, but that may be just what this film is doing. I don’t know what the story line will actually be, or what the moviemakers intend. But it makes a strong point to me.

A young pregnant woman is “the planet’s last remaining hope,” and the film is coming out on Christmas, the day Christ was born. If this message was not planned, it is most providential.