book vs. movie

Children of Men is a terrible book. Really, I don’t think it was just that I was reading it on the 14 hour bus from Kampala to Nairobi. It is just not good. Good concept. Great concept, really. But extremely unlikable main character (one of those who is intended to be unlikable but then you are supposed to find some good things about him, only I just get MORE annoyed with him as the book goes on), slow plot, and crappy ending.

Children of Men is a wonderful movie. Really. I heard it was coming out and was disappointed – yet another adaptation of a book that doesn’t deserve to be adapted. But I was completely wrong.

The degree to which the book was carelessly written, that is how much care was invested in the move - all of the thought that went into the script and the way that it is filmed, and the commitment of the actors, all of that caring is not in the book. I’m trying to think if there is anything from the book that made it to the movie, other than the very basic premise. None of the main plot points are the same; none of the same characters die; main character has different job, different motivations, different everything other than the fact that he drinks and smokes and wears an overcoat. One of the biggest difference is the larger societal reaction to the fact that humanity has lost the ability to procreate. In the book, one of the main results is that the youngest generation (by the time of the book and movie, the youngest are about 19 years old) being completely amoral and self-obsessed, and thus a threat to society. There is some side discussion about Britain becoming an authoritarian state to keep out refugees (I might be wrong about this – did I mention that when I read the book I was squeezed between a man with one leg on one side and his pair of crutches propped against the window on the other side, while cockroaches crawled over us?). But in the movie, keeping refugees out of Britain and rounding them up is the defining task of the government. Ah, it’s beautiful and thoughtful.

Also, the DVD has a documentary on globalization/capitalism/politics of fear/etc by the director, and it has philosophers and film critics and JAMES LOVELOCK! The Gaia Theory dude!! Seriously!

So, rare event: movie wins out over book!