You don’t have to be the last person on earth to feel lonely and emotionally distanced from people, but I can imagine what is worse is being the last person on earth or one of a few survivors.

Being the last person on earth or one of a few survivors should send shudders.

Even so, being alone does not mean you are done for, even at the end of the world.

Z for Zachariah (2015), based on the novel by Robert C. O’Brien, is a thought provoking and haunting film about being alone and is even uplifting.

Ann (Margot Robbie) is a survivor, living in a house in the country, alone.

All Ann knows about the outside world is that there are no human beings out there, apart from a few family members that left her to face the world by herself.

She needs the beauty of the country, and her faith is a lifeline and perhaps her central source of hope in the world.

Ann finds other human survivors, though.

John Loomis (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Caleb (Chris Pine) are opposites, Loomis is a scientist who thinks practically, and Caleb is a simple minded miner.

Both come into the action at different points in the film, with Ann their objects of desire. Eventually, both compete for her. They are both on a quest to survive, but also on a quest to alleviate their loneliness.

Loomis will put consequences before love, but despite Loomis critically assessing their circumstances, he gets jealous as a love triangle develops.

The love triangle is complicated by emotions, circumstances, sex, and people who are basically different getting thrown together randomly.

But were they living on the verge of new beginnings?