I've always believed that movies can not only change our way of thinking but change our lives entirely. The movies themselves don't necessarily have to be entirely successful in order to hit a personal note and/or challenge us. In the last few months there have been three movies which I felt took courageous steps in dealing with religion, destiny and death: George Nolfi's "The Adjustment Bureau", Clint Eastwood's criminally underrated "Hereafter" and Terrence Malick's masterpiece, "The Tree of Life" All three movies tackle the before mentioned topics in unique (if not always successful) ways.
"The Adjustment Bureau" tells the story of a young politician (Matt Damon), running to become the youngest senator of the state of New York. In a chance encounter he meets a beautiful ballerina (Emily Blunt) and it's literally love at first sight for the both of them. However, this movie lives in a world overseen by the so-called Adjustment Bureau, a group of men wearing hats and raincoats, whose job it is to make sure that every human being on the planet fulfills his or her destiny,and if Damon pursues his romance with Blunt, he's risking his destiny to become the President of the United States.
"The Adjustment Bureau" can get a bit silly at times with the notion that our destiny is ran by a mysterious group which can clearly be interpreted as guardian angels doing God's work. But at the core of this story is something we can all relate to, something I sure as hell related to: How far are we willing to go in order to fight for the person we love and the life WE want to lead? It's a movie that makes it clear that our destiny doesn't choose us, but we are the creators of our destiny. Nothing is handed to you, you have to fight for it. Based on a short story by Phillip K. Dick, it's a movie oozing with humanity and love.
"Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter" has been described as silly, hokey and stupid. I found its dealings with the subject matter of death quiet, respectful and adult-like. It connects three characters: a psychic(Matt Damon), trying to get away from his "talent", a French journalist (Cecile De France) who after having a literal death experience tries to understand it, and a young boy (Frankie Mclaren) who after losing his twin brother wants to find a way to communicate with him.
"Hereafter" is a film that demands a huge leap of faith, possibly even believing in what the movie is trying to say. It's very un -sensationalistic in its portrait of death. It's deliberate pace and and subtle emotions touched me on a very human level, in a way that made the supernatural aspect not mater. These are lost night, trying to make sense out of their lives and find some much deserved peace.
The absolute best thing I can say about Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" is that it almost makes me believe in God. As with all Malick's movies, it's a very visual experience, putting on screen a vision that can only be compared to "2001 A Space Odyssey" It deals with man's relationship to God through the lives of a typical American family in the 50's The basic idea of the movie is that there are two way to go through life: the way of nature and the way of grace. The parents on this family represent the two ways through different methods of raising their three boys. The mother (Jessica Chastain) is an almost angelic figure, gentle and kind. The father (Brad Pitt) is much tougher, trying to prepare his boys for the harshness of this world.
Malick mixes the story of this family with gorgeous images of nature and the universe which represent the face of God. It's a movie that shakes all senses and forces us to think about it's meaning. This is a movie that's a new kind of prayer
I consider myself an agnostic but these three movies made me think about faith, religion and spirituality. They made me think about myself as a person, what I want my life to be and what's most important to me. And that is the power of movies.
Dedicated to my love who's always pushing me to be better and loves me most when I least deserve it.
