Knowing

WASHINGTON (Catholic Media Review) - In 1958, a class in an elementary school makes drawings and messages to be put in a time capsule. Most of them write about, or draw, what they think the future will be like. One girl, Lucinda Embry, writes a paper full of numbers, but her time to write it is cut short by the teacher, so she is not able to finish it.

In 1958, a class in an elementary school makes drawings and messages to be put in a time capsule. Most of them write about, or draw, what they think the future will be like. One girl, Lucinda Embry, writes a paper full of numbers, but her time to write it is cut short by the teacher, so she is not able to finish it.

The time capsule is opened 50 years later, on the anniversary of its burying. Each kid in the class in 2008 receives one of the drawings. The boy who gets Lucinda's page of numbers is Caleb Koestler, the son of John Koestler (Cage), an MIT professor. John's wife died approximately a year ago. As the previews show, Koestler figures out that the numbers represent dates, and the numbers of people that will die on those dates.

It is accurate for the 50 year period, including the 2,996 people who died on 9/11/2001. He even tracks down Lucinda's daughter and granddaughter to find out about Lucinda's gift of prophecy. He does figure out the part Lucinda didn't finish. The sheet of numbers ends with a backwards EE. It is discovered that the EE represents "Everyone Else", the end of the world. That leads me to my main problem with this movie:

I certainly didn't expect it to be a 'religious' movie, and early on, John Koestler states that he is not sure there is a heaven, but have you ever heard the expression "there are no atheists in foxholes"? The government discovers the same information that Koesler has discovered, and they broadcast a warning, telling people to flee underground (the warning has to do with the sun).

I would have expected at least some people to turn to prayer, but Koestler is sort of playing God thinking he can stop this, and most of the people shown are simply trying to save themselves. Only a few people are helping others, and no one mentions praying or turning to God, which would be a natural reaction to facing the end of the world. The closest anyone comes to that is Koestler's father, a minister, who simply says when it's his time, it's his time.

I really did like 'Knowing'. There is plenty of action, and the special effects are spectacular. For more information, you can visit the movie's website at http://www.knowing-themovie.com/.

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This review, along with others from Christine Schult, has been crossposted on http://catholicmediareview.blogspot.com/ and http://acatholicview.blogspot.com/.

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