Predestination is one of the most difficult parts of theology to comprehend. In a nut shell predestination is the idea that our life is set out on rails and our free will matters little. The major debate through the centuries has always been about how much free will we actually have.
Do we have no free will? John Calvin thought this.
Do we have some free will? I don’t have a good philosopher for this one. Sorry.
Is everything governed by freewill? Jean Paul Sartre thought this.
It’s not just philosophers who have attacked this problem but entertainers as well. For example, Shakespeare, Sartre (again), and a plethora of movies.
Two of the better movies to come out in recent years tackling this messy subject are Minority Report and The Adjustment Bureau. Today we’ll look at these two movies, what they say about predestination, and I’ll tell you which one is better.
Minority Report
Minority Report follows the exploits of Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise) as he seeks to clear a wrongful accusation with the help of a Pre-Cog. In the world of Minority Report Pre-Cogs can see the future and they are used to solve murders.
Predestination in the world of Minority Report is hard to pin down. But this isn’t a bad thing. It make it much more interesting in fact. John, in the move, persuasively argues for predestination in a compelling scene with Internal Affairs agent Danny Witwer (Collin Ferrell) by rolling a ball off of a table.
John “Why’d you catch that?”
Danny “It was going to fall.”
John “So if it was going to fall no matter what, why did you catch it?”
Good stuff. But as the film progress we see John taking actions that defy the Pre-Cogs. Only to lapse back into doing what they predict. Is there predestination? I guess we’ll never know.
The Adjustment Bureau
The Adjustment Bureau focuses on lives of David Norris (Matt Damon) and Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt). David, on the eve of his defeat in the political realm, meets Elise. Soon after David accidentally discovers that the mysterious Adjustment Bureau is trying to fix his destiny so that he never sees Elise again. The Adjustment Bureau has been overseeing humanity since the beginning of time. David, however, persists and by the finale the Chairman (aka God) changes the plan so that he and Elise can be together.
Predestination, and God, in The Adjustment Bureau is apparently not a very strong force. David, through sheer power of will is able to defy the Chairman and all his agents and get the girl in the end. The message, it seems is the free will and love are most powerful forces on Earth. It doesn’t really cast God as all that powerful. This is all too bad because this movie had some real snazzy effects and some pretty good performances
The Verdict
We all knew that I was going to recommend Minority Report (a predestination joke, get it?) Overall, this movie just was better written, better directed (Steven Spielberg), and looks better. All this and it turns 10 years old next year! On top of that this movie will give you and your friends a lot of good talks about predestination.
Whew! Glad that post is up. I hope you enjoyed it. I’ve been writing a break neck pace to try and get caught up. Got questions? Got Comments? Leave them below.
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