The year is 2027, and the world is crumbling beneath the weight of a new epidemic. For almost two decades, women have been rendered inexplicably infertile: The youngest person alive is 18.

This is the world that Director Alfonso Cuar?n presents in Children of Men, the darkly moving film based on P.D. James’ novel.

In the absence of a younger generation, the world of 2027 has disintegrated into a swirl of terrorist bombings and government-assisted suicides. Even the most powerful nations have collapsed, leaving ruin and anarchy as souvenirs of their past grandeur. Only Britain has been able to maintain some sort of order, using Orwellian tactics to root out immigrants and torture their British sympathizers.

We are introduced to this bleak new world by Theo (Clive Owen), a jaded British bureaucrat, as he stops by a somber coffee shop for his daily jolt of caffeine. There, huddled around a television monitor with other patrons, Theo learns that Baby Diego, the youngest person in the world, has died after little more than 18 years of life. People are sobbing on the streets, mourning another reminder of the slow death of hope.

Shortly after this, Theo is kidnapped by a rebel group called The Fishes, who fight against Britain’s mistreatment of immigrants. The leader of The Fishes, Julian (Julianne Moore), is Theo’s ex-wife, and she offers him a large amount of money to get travel permits for a relatively young woman named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey).

Theo soon discovers the reason for this request: Kee is pregnant. She must get to a benevolent group of scientists called The Human Project, who will presumably work toward an end to worldwide infertility.

What follows is a harrowing journey through the underbelly of decaying Britain that plays as a modern-day Nativity story. Theo struggles to keep Kee safe in a world that has become saturated with brutal violence.

Children of Men is a startling film of exceptional emotional gravity directed with a fearless passion by Cuar?n, who has already established his skill with first-rate films such as Y tu mamá tambi?n and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Owen and the rest of the ensemble are an impressively talented bunch. There is no standout performance, although newcomer Ashitey is dazzling, but that isn’t a bad thing. Lesser actors would have resorted to melodrama, but this group is understated enough to let the film speak for itself. The actors here serve as palettes onto which the viewers can project themselves.

Cuar?n infuses the film with an urgency that instantly engages the audience in the action. This is not a film that offers mindless entertainment, but one that prompts reflection. Ultimately, the audience is led to consider the smoldering darkness that dwells just beneath the veneer of civility.

The film is peppered with scenes of violence that are eerily reminiscent of some of today’s Third World bloodbaths. Children of Men brings the brutality that we associate with a war-torn Baghdad into the “civilized” cornerstones of modern society, with breathtaking results.

The way Cuar?n effortlessly makes the horror of this parallel universe believable is simultaneously frightening and awe-inspiring. One scene toward the end of the film is especially effective. As Theo tries to shepherd Kee through the streets of Britain, they are submerged in a terrorist attack. In a single take, the camera follows Theo for several minutes as he watches civilians being gunned down and buildings collapsing onto their inhabitants. The brutal honesty leaves us raw but prompts us to examine the importance of hope in our world.

A character in the critically lauded HBO series Six Feet Under once said, “When a baby goes, that’s a lot of dead hope,” and that is what Cuar?n shows us in Children of Men.

Without new life, humanity is forced into a universal midlife crisis. Cuar?n’s world is contemplating its own mortality, and is lashing out in violent anger against its impending demise. Childhood innocence is dead, and all that is left is a ravaged world that is quickly running out of new horizons.

It is interesting that no one in 2027 prays or mentions any sort of religion. Apparently a world without children is no place for blind faith.

Children of Men is a film that becomes part of the viewer. Its symbolism and relevance are haunting, and will continue to amaze long after the credits role. It confronts the role of hope in our present day: a society that rejects childhood innocence in favor of achievement and technology. This film aims to change the mindset of a jaded, materialistic world on a self-destructive path.

Watching Children of Men isn’t exactly a pleasant experience, though it does have a few much-needed moments of mischievous mirth. This is no fairy tale, and happily ever after is not a foregone conclusion. After all, it confronts hopelessness, violence and mortality in a way that Hollywood hasn’t in years. However, watching Children of Men is a rewarding experience. It is knowing, honest and in the end, hopeful.