Children of Men is probably the best movie I've seen yet this year. (Yes, I know it was released last year, but this is the rate at which I watch films.)

A P.D. James adaptation (she's been a favorite of mine since reading Death in Holy Orders), Children of Men is a futuristic tale of a barren world. No children have been born in 18 years. Britain stands as the only "orderly" nation left after radical terrorism tears the rest of the world apart. Orderliness, of course, involves a police state with a repressive anti-"fugee" policy, rounding up immigrants into violent ghettos, and encouraging state-sponsored suicide with convenient "Quietus" kits.

This dystopia is the setting in which a young refugee girl finds herself pregnant, scarcely knowing the signs, since the rite of childbearing departed from the community memory even before she was born. Theo (Clive Owen) is entrusted with seeing her to safety outside the UK. He is aided, initially, by a rebel group seeking to overthrow the British government, but he soon realizes that these individuals have their own plans for the child.

The most tachycardic slow-motion chase scene I have ever seen in a film is here, as Theo helps Kee (the pregnant girl) escape in a car, rolling down a hill, trying all the while to jump-start it. Cuaron is also credited with several impressively complex "single-shot" scenes (a car chase, an urban battle, and the birth scene), but I thought the slo-mo car chase with bad guys running behind was brilliant. There is striking photography throughout the film, using London scenes like Trafalgar square and double-decker buses. Potentially offensive elements: Some rough language make this an inappropriate choice for children. One brief and nonsexual display of a woman with child highlights the vulnerability of pregnancy.

Children of Men reminds us just what is so special about the birthing of children, our hope, our future. Talk about pro-life...