Children of Men

Film director Alfonso Cuarón's dystopian science fiction thriller Children of Men is about a near future in which human fertility has nearly ceased, and to represent a setting that is familiar yet disturbing, the compilers of this various-artists soundtrack (there is also an album of the score) have chosen some rock and pop songs by well-known artists dating back to the '60s, some of them, however, presented in versions not so well known. Everybody knows the heavy metal band Deep Purple, but the band's initial American hit, a cover of Joe South's "Hush," doesn't sound much like its more successful "Smoke on the Water" phase. The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" are iconic '60s songs, but they are here performed by Junior Parker and heavily accented Italian singer Franco Battiato, respectively.

John Tavener was the perfect choice as the composer to create the musical score for the film CHILDREN OF MEN. Much of the music used throughout the film (songs like 'Ruby Tuesday' etc) are well enough known that they don't require re-recording in this memoir of a deeply moving film. But it is the opportunity to listen without the visuals to the music Tavener created 'that brings an even deeper appreciation for his accomplishment. In addition to Tavener's own compositions this CD includes the Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau rendering of Mahler's 'Nun Will Die Sonn' So Hell Aufgeh'n' from the 'Kindertotenlieder' (a more apt song cycle could not be imagined for this childless film) as well as Krzysztof Penderecki's 'Threnody For The Victims Of Hiroshima' as conducted by the composer and Handel's excerpt from 'Alexander's Feast' ('War, he sung, is toil and trouble').

The world's youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set in and around a dystopian London fractious with violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows the unexpected discovery of a lone pregnant woman and the desperate journey to deliver her to safety and restore faith for a future beyond those presently on Earth.

The world's youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set in and around a dystopian London fractious with violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows the unexpected discovery of a lone pregnant woman and the desperate journey to deliver her to safety and restore faith for a future beyond those presently on Earth.