Children of Secular Humanism

Is it possible that the upcoming film, Children of Men, will not be nearly as preachy as it appears? No, not overtly preachy, but that secular humanist sort which lies just beneath the surface, thinly veiled in yet another dystopian fable. Take for instance this exchange, from the trailer:

Woman: "The Human Project have sent a boat."
Clive Owen: "The Human Project?"
Woman: "Yes. The greatest minds in the world, working for a new society."

Groan.

Sounds suspiciously like yet another spin of the same broken record, loosely: "Previous attempts to order a civiliation based on the pscychosocial constructs of capitalism, God, tradition, patriarchy, etc., have failed and the only viable solution is to eliminate what exists (through whatever means) and start again with the prescription and proscription of today's best and brightest minds (which all too often parrot one another in monotonous self-congratulation)." The question I always return to is "who chooses these best and brightest minds?" Typically, they choose one another.

About this point, I like what William F. Buckley, Jr. had to say about one cadre of "the best and brightest minds":

"I would rather be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston phone book than by the faculty of Harvard University".

It should be noted Children of Men is based upon the eponymous P.D. James novel. It is surprisingly poorly reviewed at Amazon.com, with user comments such as "under-developed science" and "Surprisingly disappointing". Surprising, that is, for a book made into a big-budget film. Well, that's no guarantor of success.