Children are our hope for the future or so the cliché goes. Countless charitable drives and fundraisers are built around that theme. But Children of Men turns that conceit on its head by removing children from the equation. If children really are our hope for the future, what would happen in the world, if there were no children? Would there be no hope? Would there be no future?

Director Alfonso Cuaron poses those kinds of provocative questions in Children of Men. Based on the novel of the same name by P.D. James, the film takes place in the near future (2027 to be exact) and women have mysteriously become infertile. The youngest person, at 18, has just been killed. Theodore Faron (Clive Owen) like everyone else around him is just getting by. A former activist, he’s long abandoned his politics and dreams of a better world and settled into a predictable routine. He works, he laces his coffee with liquor and his only bright spot is driving out to the country and smoking weed with his friend Jasper (Michael Caine). Then one day he meets up with his ex-, Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore). She’s the leader of one of the terrorist factions and she introduces him to something – someone – unbelievable, a young black refugee woman named Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) and she’s pregnant. They have to get her through the war-torn city to a boat where she is to meet up with a group called The Human Project, who will take care of her and protect her.

Children of Men is bleak. It works because it creates a reality that is very real. It is a reality that is devoid of hope and happiness. In the not-too-distant future, ‘illegals’ are rounded up, held in camps and then deported. In the not-so-distant future terrorist attacks are commonplace. Most sci-fi films that deal with the end of the world revolve around some sudden cataclysmic force. This is different. The end is painfully slow. This world will exist until the last person dies. The end comes closer with every passing day.

Clive Owen gives a complicated performance as a man living in these end times. He’s grieving the end of humanity like everyone else is. Yet, he’s also grieving the death of his own child, a tragic event that he’s never gotten over. Julianne Moore isn’t given much to do. Michael Caine brings a levity and sincerity to his role but its Owen and newcomer Clare-Hope Ashitey that carry the film. Ashitey is a woman that represents a possible rebirth of humanity; yet, she’s still a young woman who amidst danger is naively preoccupied with what to name her baby.

This is a movie that will make you think. And to Cuaron’s credit, he doesn’t beat you over the head relentlessly with its politics. Its themes come through as the story unfolds. There are no sweeping speeches or monologues. In fact, the film’s most powerful scene has almost no dialogue, as the mere presence of a baby causes an impromptu cease-fire.

Children of Men is a well-made intelligent film that will resonate with moviegoers. It will stay with you long after the credits roll.