Posted on 03/20/2009 9:06:53 PM PDT by Grig
Just got back from seeing Nickolas Cage's new movie 'Knowing'. I think a lot of you will like it.
First the parental info: There is no sex, and I think there was only cuss word 's*** happens'. Watching Cage wander through a fresh plane wreck trying to keep people from burning to death is not for little kids though.
If you've seen the trailers you know it's about a 50 year old list of numbers that turns out to be a list of disasters from the time it was written up to the present time and a bit beyond. What the trailer doesn't tell you is the religious side to the story.
Cage's character is a widower and father, his wife died in a hotel fire a few years before and he isn't coping that well. He is also the son of a minister, and the death of his wife was the point he turned his back on religion and started believing that life is meaningless, there is no purpose or design, we are all just here by some cosmic luck of the draw.
The existence of the list challenges his atheistic view, and the fact that the fire his wife died in is also on the list changes this from a quest to save lives from the last few disasters on the list to a quest to find out, to know, if there really is a purpose and design to existence.
I won't ruin the ending (which wasn't bad but could have been better I'll admit) but the overall message is pro-faith rather than yet another attack on religion from Hollywood. Don't expect theological purity though. Don't expect professional movie reviewers to 'get it' either since they likely are looking at it with a Chariot of the Gods interpretation which doesn't make any sense.
It's not from Hollywood, properly speaking. It was made in Australia. I noticed the production company was "Ezekiel something", so I think there's probably some kind of story that explains the authorial voice.
I just saw it tonight, largely because I was intrigued by this thread, and I got a speeding ticket on the way there. Thanks a lot guys! I wasn't late or anything, and in fact I got there in time, even with the delay. It was still light, very pleasant with virtually no traffic, and Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watch Tower" was on the radio, so I was just sailing along one of those 45MPH four laners, like I was the only person in the world. I didn't look down at the speedometer until I was shocked into alertness by the police lights - shades of "Close Encounters". What I saw on the dial instantly instilled an attitude of philosophic resignation. I was mercifully ticketed for "19 over" ... haven't had a ticket in many years, btw.
So, this was food for thought during the movie with its "no coincidences" theme. Also weird, to me, was the book that Cage ( "Koestler" ) was carrying early on when he was walking with his colleague after the opening lecture. That is, "Galactic Dynamics" ... I have it! I have it! When I looked at it later, I noticed I had a bookmark in it, very reminiscent of the movie. Well, maybe not Twilight Zone stuff here, but you try it.
I was trying to read the title of the book Cage was carrying, but I never seemed to catch it in focus well enough that I could read it. So thanks for catching that.
There were no aliens from another planet in this movie.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.