The power of children

"It's very odd, what happens in a world without childrens voices"

This quote is from director Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men, which i saw for the first time last night. (Bought it on DVD as part of Monday's operations) Ill tell you this, straight of the bat, its bloody good.
Its one of those intriguing films that takes a glimpse into the not-so distant future, and tells the story of a world filled with terror, destruction, despair, oppression....all the usual rackets, bar one: Children. The Human Race has become infertile, and for the past 18 years, there have been no children. (Which naturally sent the world to pot.)
The story begins with the main character, portrayed by Clive Owen, in a coffee shop watching a news story on how the youngest person, aged 18, has just died. Said coffee shop is then blown up a few minutes later. The rest involves Clive Owen's character getting unwittingly drawn in to perform "escort duty" for a girl, who it later turns out is pregnant (shock horror). From then on in its a nerve-racking escape to the coast, as anyone and everyone wants to get there hands on the baby for their own agendas, and the lil tot is actually born towards the end.
Camera work for this film is nothing by spectacular, with Cuaron pulling out all the stops to shoot the film in such a "realistic" way. A trademark of the film is seamless, uncut sequences that last 10/15 minutes, that really add to the atmosphere and the sense that its happening. Yet this is not the best this film had to offer.
For me Ladies and Gentlemen, this film boiled down to one, simple, beautiful scene. Ironically, it's not one of Alfonso's seamless sequences, nor does it contain any outstanding acting (as such), but it’s still magical. Picture this:
Bexhill: a grimy, decaying town, outlined as one of Britain’s many Refugee camps where all outsiders are shoved inside like sardines. It is the ultimate symbol of what the world had become, very reminiscent of a war-town town from World War II. The Scenario: The refugees (lovingly named 'Fugees' in this film) are having an "uprising" within the camp, and the Army has been sent in to deal with it. There is fighting everywhere, on the streets, in the buildings, Army guys duking it out with the militants, smoke, blood, death....Owen and the girl are trapped inside a building with militants, a tank is outside battering the place in, the soldiers storm the building, they see the baby....and then it stops. The Soldiers, the militants, the death…it all stops. And for what must be 5 glorious, breath-taking minutes, there is peace. As Owen leads the girl outside, everyone just stares at the baby, some even pray. Then of course some twit lets of a grenade whilst everyone is distracted and it all goes to pot again. For me, this scene did it, it really captured the essence of the film and was one of the best moments of the film.
Yes, it is very odd what happens to a world without children’s voices...but just look what happens when those voices return.