The Adjustment Bureau Opens in Theaters on Friday

Are we in charge of our lives, or are decisions made for us long before we consider them?  Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate it?  Oscar® winner Matt Damon (the Bourne series, True Grit) and Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, The Wolfman) star in the romantic thriller The Adjustment Bureau.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Is it fate or free will? The Adjustment Bureau, a romantic thriller that opens in theaters on Friday, explores this issue through the eyes of a couple in love. Oscar® winner MATT DAMON (the Bourne series, True Grit) and EMILY BLUNT (The Devil Wears Prada, The Wolfman) have to discover whether they are in control of their own destiny - or is someone in charge?

David Norris (Damon) is a politician who is about to win a seat in the U.S. By chance, he meets a contemporary ballet dancer, Elise Sellas (Blunt), and is immediately captivated by her. In his attempt to find her again he discovers there is a mysterious group of individuals - members of the Adjustment Bureau, who are committed to keeping them apart.

Norris is shown by these men that many major decisions made by mankind are actually engineered by their cadre of workers who guide persons toward a pre-determined path. Since he and Sellas are not supposed to be together, he has to choose - follow the way he is supposed to go or risk everything to stay with the one he loves.

Damon and Blunt, two wonderful actors are joined by an ensemble of players in the Adjustment Bureau, Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Eagle Eye) as Harry, the sympathetic Bureau representative assigned to David's case; John Slattery (television's Mad Men, Iron Man 2) as Richardson, Harry's agitated and highly driven supervisor; Michael Kelly (Changeling, Dawn of the Dead) as Charlie Traynor, David's campaign manager and lifelong best friend; and Terence Stamp (Wanted, Valkyrie) as Thompson, the head Bureau agent who is called in to resolve the Norris problem once and for all.
 
I left the screening of the Adjustment Bureau stirred, impressed, thoughtful and perplexed. The movie is truly entertaining and provides enough of a sci-fi feel that you never know what might happen from scene to scene.

My confusion came from a conflict in worldviews - mine and the movie. In the movie, I assumed, at first, that those with the Adjustment Bureau were angels in fedoras, but their behavior, language (which was sometimes a bit colorful) and interaction with humans seemed somewhat un-angelic. They worked for the Chairman, who determined the individual plans for each individual.

Of course I also assumed that the Chairman was God. From that perspective, David Norris' entire journey seemed to be a walk of disobedience saying "No" to his creator concerning the plan for his life. So, I sometimes found it hard to root for him.

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After the screening, the film's screenwriter and director, George Nolfi (writer of Ocean's Twelve, co-writer of The Bourne Ultimatum), stated plainly that he had made no attempt to address any theological issues in the film. He sought simply to look at free will and fate - through the intervention of the Adjustment Bureau - as a theme. The movie is based upon the short story "Adjustment Team" by Philip K. Dick ("Total Recall," "Minority Report" and "Blade Runner").

At the same time, I was captivated by the love he had for Elise; a love that was not lustful or sexual in nature. He was drawn to her as his helpmate, the one with whom he was convinced he was to spend his life. There was a passion resident in him for life to be lived in a way that contradicted the "plan."

As veteran reviewer Phil Boatright of moviereporter.com reported about the press junket, "There were degrees of admiration and frustration among my colleagues with both the film's theme and execution, causing lively exchange. And that's the strength of The Adjustment Bureau - it leads to discussion."

Thus, you leave the film thoughtful. What about free will and God's plan for my life?

The Catholic Catechism says this about the subject: "God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures' co-operation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God's greatness and goodness. For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of co-operating in the accomplishment of his plan.

"To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of 'subduing' the earth and having dominion over it.168 God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbors. Though often unconscious collaborators with God's will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings. They then fully become 'God's fellow workers' and co-workers for his kingdom. (CCC, 306, 307)

In the film, Norris asks his case-worker, Harry, "Is this some sort of test?" "In a way," Harry replies, "it's all a test for everybody, even the members of the Adjustment Bureau."

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The film will definitely entertain you and make you think, but don't go expecting a theological foundation. "The Adjustment Bureau," from Universal Pictures is PG-13 and opens Friday.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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