The Adjustment Bureau

The movie Adjustment Bureau, seems from the beginning to portray an almost best of both worlds scenario when it comes to free will and determinism.  Where the main character, a guy named David Norris loses an election for the US Senate, but in doing so, he becomes a favorite for the next election.  He does this because of a chance meeting with a woman, Elise, who inspires him to be far more candid than most politicians tend to be during concession speeches. 

The movie seems to be centered around David having the free will to make his own choices, but the Bureau, with instructions from “the Chairman” comes in to fix any issues that may make David stray from his intended path.  One could see that as a somewhat pleasant way to go about things as long as you are not aware of the Bureau and the Chairman’s influence.  Another way to put it is that ignorance is bliss.  Believing that you have free will all the time, while having an omnipotent being without your knowledge controlling any mulligans you may need in order to stop you from straying would be the optimal way to have things play out.

The problem with this set up in the movie is that David is aware of the Bureau and their role in how his life plays out.  This causes David to want free will at all times and he does everything he can to try to go against what the Chairman has planned for him because those plans do not involve Elise.

My opinion is that the movie is linking the Bureau to quasi “guardian angels” or a “conscience” that is not supposed to be seen but who directs your life as it was intended to go and makes it seem as if it was your free will or chance that made the path lead to where it did.  The Chairman is God.  A God who is grappling with two distinct choices.  Continuing to try to direct how every event goes in the world through Determinism or allowing all humans to have actual free will.  Prior attempts to allow humanity to control its own destiny have led to the dark ages and world wars so the Chairman and the Bureau are very hesitant to allow free will to again rule. 

The movie ends with the Chairman apparently making the decision to allow free will.  Obviously this is not a ground breaking discovery on my part as it seems to be pretty obvious that this was the intent of the writers.  However, the movie made me think about how I view the world and the script of my life.  Perhaps my belief that man has free will, or at least mainly has free will, and that there is not determinism factor coming from a higher power is only my belief because I cannot see the higher power at work.  Perhaps there are more factors at work than my free will and the environment/culture in which I was brought up and in which I live today.  It is very conceivable to think that it is because there are guardian angels or bureau members swooping in to adjust some aspect of my present to ensure that my future stays on the correct path.  This does not mean that I do not have the final say in what happens, just that my final say might be influenced by factors that are unbeknownst to me.

Overall a very interesting movie and it really made me think.  Which is far better than most of the movies that I have watched recently.