Pre-View of The Adjustment Bureau.

On Wednesday night I went to a pre-screening of the upcoming Matt Damon movie The Adjustment Bureau. It will be coming to theaters on March 4^th, and people will walk out of this philosophical movie scratching their heads and wondering about the nature of Free Will.

No spoilers from the movie, but I wanted to give you a little insight that I gained from watching the movie, talking with the director, and hearing the opinions of Pat Nolan Vice-President of Prison Fellowship’s Justice Fellowship.

The story is about a young Congressman who is running for the United States Senate. His fate is driving him forward, until he meets a ballet dancer (Emily Blunt) who starts to draw him off course.

The plot is propelled by Fate’s legions who fight to keep everything going according to plan. On the other hand love trying to rewrite the future.

Matt Damon, the congressman, reveals to his supporters at one point that they spent $7,500 to hire a consultant to tell them the proper amount of scuffing he should have on his shoes to look real. The political people were horrified at Damon’s character for allowing the voters to see “behind a curtain [they] didn’t know existed.” That speech, however, just made the popular congressman more popular.

When I asked the director, George Nolfi, if he intended any political commentary with the movie he said he didn’t. He did however tell me that he felt that it was important for him to “reward frankness in politics.”

The movie asks the viewer to seriously consider the role of human will over the driving force of fate’s circumstances. “The Chairman” is not really a God like figure, so if you watch it do not get hung up on that. He fits more closely in the realm of the Fates from Greek mythology. Nolfi said he also drew from the Calvin v. Armenian debate. He also made a reference to a line from the Sound of music: "When the lord closes a door, somehow he opens a window."

You might say that the movie is a Matrix movie where they substitute a love story for the action. Despite this being Damon's first romance movie the acting is good. In fact, watch out if Matt Damon ever goes into politics. He seems to take on the role like a fish in water.

Technically, the movie's special effects are strong and the Bureau's strange world seamlessly connects with our own.

In the end, I not only enjoyed the movie but also found it to be thought provoking and a serious engagement of questions of human free will. The movie is a question, do you have the answer?