This movie is very beautifully filmed and really makes you feel like you are watching something that could take place in a ruined world. You don't ever get to know what happened. From what I read, you never do. A man and his son (these are the only names given) are travelling a post apocalyptic world trying to survive a harsh world inhabited by cannibals and desperate people. This film is beautiful and heartbreaking. You see the love that a father has. He will do anything to keep his son safe. Viggo Mortensen is amazing in this film. His  desperation and commitment to keeping his onscreen son are so believable. When his wife commits suicide he is thrust out into this harsh world. I can't praise Mortensen's acting enough. He needs to be in more films because he is an exquisite actor. I read that he prepared for this role by starving himself. It paid off because wow. The boy who plays his son, Kodi Smith-Mcphee is also amazing. Everytime he would cry, I would feel my heart just crumbling. Fantastic and heartbreaking film.