Movie-going was my passionate pastime in the days of yore and especially Hollywood flicks, and if I was to write about them in the past, I would have written mostly about exceptional action movies, charming men and their acting style. But in the past few decades, there has been a considerable shift in my choice. I’ve been more attracted to the understanding of the human mind, especially of those protagonists who steered their lives defying the mythical concept called ‘fate’. This week, I would like to narrate one such exceptional movie that inspired me. The movie, ‘The Adjustment Bureau’, conveys the strong message that we can rewrite our fate towards a target goal with perseverance.
Davis Norris, a popular politician (played by Matt Damon), meets Elise Sellas (played by Emily Blunt) under strange circumstances and both are infatuated with each other, but strange people who have certain extraordinary powers try to keep them apart. These strange people are from ‘The Adjustment Bureau’ who are provided a prescript in their hand to ensure that the lives of people are going exactly as per the plan drawn by The Chairman. These agents have the power to teleport themselves to any location just by opening the doors in a particular fashion, with the power of a magical hat that they wear all the time, and make adjustments to any actions of people that are contrary to the plan.
The agents warn Norris that his life is already pre-scripted by The Chairman and that he would one day become the most popular President of the USA, and that Sellas was destined to become a world famous ballerina with a stellar future. But if Norris and Sellas were to remain together, then his impulsive nature would broaden and scuttle his ability and chances to lead the country and, on the other hand, Sellas’ career would only be limited to being a teacher to children in a insignificant dancing school, her talent unexploited. The agents warn Norris that in case he pursues his passion for Sellas, he would not only lose his popularity but also become a vegetable with a disease like Alzheimer’s or even become insane.
Norris doesn’t believe the claims of the agents in the beginning but after a few incidents, he is shocked and bewildered when the agents use all their powers, making it impossible for him to meet Sellas. But Norris has one question for himself: Why does The Chairman not want him to go after his ‘free will’? The agents warn Norris that he can never do anything against the plan of The Chairman and they will ensure, with all possible efforts, to keep them separated even if they have to make some side adjustments that could be harmful — called ‘ripple effects’. One of the agents named Mitchell asks why Norris is fixated on this one woman, not bothering that his world will turn upside down if he decides to live with her for the rest of his life. Norris asks, in return, why he cannot have what he wants.
Tired of being chased by the agents restricting him from meeting his love, Norris finally resolves to approach ‘The Chairman’ and make an application to allow him to live as per his free will. It is at this juncture that Agent Mitchell feels guilty that he might be doing the wrong thing by separating Norris from his true love, and decides to help him. Agent Michell confers on Norris the ability to teleport. In the climax, Norris crashes into the large administrative building of The Adjustment Bureau, along with Sellas, to meet The Chairman. The agents panic, fearing punitive actions from The Chairman, and use all their ability to stop Norris from meeting The Chairman. Finally, Norris is cornered on a high-rise roof and he tells Sellas that this is the end. He embraces her in an emotional hug and a final goodbye kiss. Suddenly, after the kiss, Norris and Sellas find that the agents who had surrounded them have vanished except Thompson, the head of the agents, and Mitchell.
Mitchell informs him that Norris’s application to The Chairman has been approved, even if he didn’t reach Him, but he says that everyone meets The Chairman in one form or another and it is only the wise who can identify Him. Norris is informed that the unswerving love and devotion he and Sellas have towards each other had convinced The Chairman to rewrite the plan for them, allowing them to live happily together. Finally, the world of Norris is adjusted.
Unfortunately, President Obama, in a speech, stated that he didn’t like the movie because of certain personal views of Matt Damon that were broadcasted on his political administration. Nevertheless, even though I have great respect for President Obama, I found the movie’s screenplay exceptionally great.
The fact that our destiny is not scripted by a Divine hand is proven by live examples of many people around us, validating that we are navigators of our own destiny through our actions. But most often, the disciple travels astray in believing that our life script is written by the hand of God. The obstacles in our endeavours are the tests that we are put to confirm whether we really deserve the results that we pursue and it is only the relentless perseverance that effects the outcome. In fact, the Holy One could only be a facilitator to provide an opportunity dispassionately to one and all to perform his or her act on the stage within a given time. It is only we who author our playwright by a screenplay and play the role to the scenario as we had envisaged. One’s future or fate is misconceived as an irreversible screenplay written by the hand of God.
‘The Adjustment Bureau’ are the celestial beings, whose Chairman is ‘God’, his agents are the ‘Angels’, the large administrative building of the bureau is ‘Heaven’, the prescript is our ‘fate’, the application defying The Chairman is the human ‘free will’, and Norris is the human who passionately pursues his goal.
I am confident that this movie would inspire all those who have gone astray, assuming that their future is predetermined by fate and ignoring their right to exercise their ‘free will’.
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