A compelling story of fate vs. free will, but without a very compelling God
Inside the new romantic thriller The Adjustment Bureau lie some intricate themes, particularly free will and predestination. An adaptation of a short story by Philip K. Dick, whose other works have become cultural monuments such as Blade Runner, Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly, The Adjustment Bureau never really goes where it could and opts instead for blatant agenda and heavy-handed messaging.
Starring Matt Damon as David Norris, a hasty young New York politician, the film follows Norris as he essentially fights for his fate. After losing a close senatorial election—treated as a temporary hindrance—Norris meets an unforgettable woman, Elise Sallas, played by an alluring Emily Blunt. Their brief romantic encounter, which seems almost like a dream, sends Norris down a path contrary to providence, more specifically God’s plan for his life. This becomes apparent when he shows up to work early and finds his office frozen in time and occupied by a group of mystery men in suits. Led by Richardson (John Slattery of Mad Men), these supernatural men represent the Adjustment Bureau, ensuring that everyone and everything follows a predetermined plan created by God, whom they call the Chairman.
Theologically, this concept of a sovereign deity who dictates all of life—from a cup of coffee spilling to political leaders being elected—is an age-old debate and is ripe for creative storytelling. Unfortunately, director and screenwriter George Nolfi seems unable to delve into the most interesting complexities of this problem and instead settles for a mere morality tale. You can see where it's going almost immediately as Norris begins resisting his so-called destiny.
After Norris finds himself being interrogated by the adjusters, who tell him he can’t talk about what he has seen (unless he wants his mind erased) and that he can’t be with Elise because it’s simply not part of his fate, he sets out to do the opposite of that. He can’t help but follow his heart and pursue a relationship with Elise, causing an inevitable pit between concepts of free will and predestination. Nolfi, of course, makes an argument for free will, but the issues of the movie don't really have anything to do with that. They have everything to do with Nolfi's understanding of humankind and of God, who we begin to find out is not only untrustworthy, but somewhat impotent and prone to error.
As the story plays out, we learn the Chairman doesn’t always get things right. In fact, He messes up quite a bit. Evidently, Norris and Elise were initially meant to be together, but something related to chance altered the plan. The story insinuates these kinds of mistakes regularly take place and that the Chairman continually has to rewrite people’s stories based on that. This says a lot about Nolfi’s perception of God. Though he certainly acknowledges Him, Nolfi doesn’t seem to believe in a God who is all-knowing and loving. In his opinion, God doesn’t know what’s best for humanity or doesn’t love us enough to care.
In the end, Nolfi obviously makes a staunch argument for free will. Basically, he says if God controlled every single detail, we’d be screwed. He’d mess everything up and we wouldn’t attain our dreams and desires. Instead, we need to use our free will, make our own paths and let love conquer all—as if God isn’t love. This conclusion makes sense based on Nolfi’s view of God. If God isn’t perfect, powerful and loving, who would want to live under His reign? In that case, free will sounds like the best option. If God isn’t all those things, we would definitely want to go rogue and do things our way.
Though all this suggests The Adjustment Bureau to be an intellectual picture whether you agree with it or not, that’s really not the case. Nolfi certainly makes his worldview apparent, but because his film becomes so preposterous, it’s difficult to take it too seriously. Nolfi portrays metaphysical elements realistically to make for some captivating visuals. Damon and Blunt display a sort of romance that has nearly disappeared from the movies. Nevertheless, the story in which they exist overrides their appeal. It’s all too literal and spelled out for us. In other words, the director’s imagination and ideologies don’t translate visually. Instead, characters must explain everything in dialogue, and the plot feels contrived in order to say what it was intended to say. Thus, the film just gets sillier and sillier and increasingly less effective. From the adjusters’ unsubtle explanations about the Chairman ("We’re talking about God here”) to the finale's heavy-handed speech about free will, Nolfi proves his confusion artistically and moralistically.
Sadly, what he believes and what The Adjustment Bureau exemplifies represent a preference in our culture. So many people resist the idea of a sovereign God not because they merely disagree with that theology, which splits most Christians anyway. They do so because they don’t know the perfect, powerful and loving God of the Bible, whom we can trust—and not fight against—with our lives and with our fate.
