10 Movies SIGNIFICANTLY Better Than The Book
4. Children Of Men
Of all of the entries on this list, this novel and film are potentially the closest in tone and yet farthest in actual storytelling. Theo's role in the novel is very different from his role in the film, where he is protector as opposed to the novel's more influential man.
Alfonso Cuarón directed this film in 2006, more than a decade after the novel's release. In it, he was able to bring some of the contemporary issues that the world was facing to bear. The novel was written as the world was coming out of the recession of the '80s, where infertility was the main issue. The film retains this theme of infertility, placing the responsibility solely on the men.
It also depicts the world as dank and grey, devoid of hope. Made in a post-9/11 world, the film brilliantly and starkly captures the mood of the world at the time. Theo's desperate attempt to save the young girl ends in his demise, something that is absent from the slightly more hopeful novel.
In changing the tone from one of oppressed hope to bleak realism, Cuarón managed to update it in a way that was true to the message of the novel, but spoke to the harsh reality of contemporary world. Both are excellent examinations of what might come in the future, though the film, while darker, feels today to be more realistic of a future without hope.