The Adjustment Bureau
In a conversation a few years back, movie producer Ralph Winter told me a good movie always leaves you with questions. My friend Jason Hildebrand and I recently enjoyed a guys’ night out at the cinema and experienced a film that does just that. The Adjustment Bureau raises some great questions!
The movie stars Matt Damon in yet another solid cinematic turn as political hopeful, David Norris who falls in love with a beautiful ballerina, Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt). They meet ‘by chance” on a bus. David is convinced that he has met the girl of his dreams, but mysterious men appear and conspire to keep them apart. The film is served up as a multi-genre movie: it is sci-fi, romance and thriller. As Norris’s and Elise’s lives connect, then diverge and intertwine; the story raises some big questions. Does life have a pre-determined path? Can we alter this path? Are we alone in the universe? Does each of us have a unique destiny before us? Do our choices make a difference? Do we have free will? Are there mysterious hidden forces at work in our chance encounters and “accidents”? Are our lives already mapped out for us? Is there a “Chairman” at work in the rhythms and routines of our lives?
The official website states: “Life is a series of events. This man. This glance. These moments all happened according to plan. Their plan. This year, if you believe in free will, if you believe in choice, fight for it.” The movie opts for entertainment rather than tidy metaphysical explanation. For example, there is both fate predeterministically governing life and also, somewhat conveniently things can also happen by “chance." A chairman (pick your deity...because the film is unclear on who this chairman actually is) presides over life and presides over “the plan." Yet, David and Elise can meet “by chance” and be together even although they were not meant to be together. ( Huh?) The chairman has agents at work – not angels – but guys in suits and hats who live a very, very ( very) long time.
Faithful Christ followers have grappled with the tensions created by the ideas of free will and predestination and the sovereignty of God and human responsibility. D.M Baillie, in his classic little volume, God was in Christ, tells us we are treading on paradox here. Clearly, there are limitations to cinematic storytelling that attempts to deal with the tension of a paradox. The movie cannot maintain the tension of a “Chairman’s” predetermined plan and the possibility that the politician and ballerina can make meaningful choices. Ultimately, the film celebrates the triumph of free will.
The Adjustment Bureau is not the only recent flick to try and tackle predestination, destiny and life purpose. Danny Boyle’s Oscar winning “Slumdog Millionaire" hit the screen with the recurrent thread, "It is written." The Adjustment Bureau raises the big, pivotal question: “Does God have a special plan and purpose for my life?" And "how can I discover the plan?” Go see the film with some friends and then grab a dessert or drink afterwards to chat about paradox, purpose, and destiny,
