Children of Men- Opening analysis

The Children of Men movie begins with what appears to be a news report from news channels. A male voice reads out "Day one-thousand of the siege of Seattle!", while a female voice mentions something about Muslim leaders wanting military to cease occupation of their mosques.
A third voice mentions UK borders remaining closed after eight years and the deportation of illegal immigrants.  While there may not be anything shown on screen except for blackness, we can imply that from the reports of these people's voices, the world is in a state of chaos.

The fact that these all sound like official broadcasts from various news channels give it legitimacy due to our trust of world media. The film plays with our trust as we have a tendency to listen and take news reports fairly seriously in real life; they also do what the news does to us in real life and brings our curiosity to into play. The film starts with very intriguing bits of information relayed to the audience over a black screen (possibly done so that the audience is not distracted by on-screen presence and hence pays full attention to the information relayed by the news) but does not offer any explanation as to why all this is happening. The voices discuss political world matters that lead audience members to question what is happening, such as 'why would Seattle be under siege?' etc.

            
            A picture of Diego Ricardo, the youngest person in the world.

The question that is most intriguing however, would most probably have to be the headline or the main story as said by the third voice, about the death of a certain 'Diego Ricardo', the youngest person in the world. The first question that immediately explodes in our minds is,'How was he the youngest person on the planet?'. Furthermore, it appears that he had some sort of celebrity status as he was killed after refusing to sigh an autograph. Whats worse is that the fan was then beaten to death by an angry mob- but more importantly, we should pay attention to what is not said. The news makes no mention any law enforcement attempting to stop any of this, which could possibly be a way of indirectly telling the audience that the law has no more relevance or that they are quite helpless in this age. What's more evident of this is that there actually two police officers in the crowd toward the back that have gathered in the cafe to see the broadcast of the death of Diego, which could be taken as a sign that the police have been pushed back in terms of authority and presence or that they have taken 'a back seat' in society (which is strange, considering that the profession of a policeman is a respectable and honorable one).

Another factor that may come to mind is why there is such a thing as the youngest person in the world and why are they so important. The fact that this is important implies that there must be something wrong with the human race which does not allow new babies to be born, thus eliminating the most essential feature required for the survival of every species ever created- reproduction. Perhaps this foreshadows an end to the human race and thus allows us to make sense of the movie and offers many explanations as to why the Earth in the movie is in the condition it is in.
This relaying of information from the production crew to the audience is an interesting way which allows them to communicate with the audience and tell them what the scenario looks like.

 The policemen can be seen on the left of  Clive Owens.

The most exciting part about the scene is the final bit where there is an explosion in the middle of the street on where the cafe is located. Clive Owens steps out of the cafe and on to the street, he walks a little further until he stops to mix his coffee when the explosion goes off. The explosion could signify the lack of safety of the world they live in- occurring right in the middle of a crowded street o what appears to be a busy day shows that this may occur in everyday life. The shock and sudden timing of the explosion stirs up audience members as they will now be on edge and anticipate the next blast. We can see a couple embracing each other on the street right before the explosion sets off and they are thrown to the side, this could possibly symbolise the tearing apart of happiness as the two are torn away from each other.
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The explosion on the street

The final bit of the scene shows a dismembered, screaming woman staggering out of the explosion smoke and rubble holding her own arm. This represents the chaotic nature of the world and how it is being torn apart and left in a state of mass confusion.
The future is uncertain for this poor woman who holds her own arm.