The Battle Between Fate and Free Will

By Managerrie Winston

  ½

When I attended the pre- screening of The Adjustment Bureau I figured it would be a normal love story, guy meets girl, loses girl, then regains her back and they fall madly in love and live happily ever after. My assumptions of the movie were somewhat wrong because The Adjustment Bureau puts a suspenseful twist to the classic love story challenging you to choose between fate’s plan and the right to exercise your own free will in the game of love.

Matt Damon stars in the leading role as David Norris, a politician who catches a glimpse of the fate of his future one day after taking a bus ride and decides that he does not want to follow that plan. On the night of his loss for a U.S. Senate seat while David (Damon) prepares his speech, he meets a gorgeous ballet dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt), who captures his heart and sparks feelings he has never felt.

When David begins to realize that Elise is the woman of his dreams, the mysterious men from the agency of The Adjustment Bureau strive to keep David and Elise apart. The agents from The Adjustment Bureau are the controllers of fate itself and are trying to do everything in their power to prevent David and Elise from being together in order to keep them on the predetermined path that was created for them. This predetermined path will take both David and Elise to the top of mastering their careers.

The Adjustment Bureau takes on a God-like approach when it refers to the head of the bureau as “The Chairman.” This chairman is the only one who has the power to create and change the plan for everyone, this plan is monitored by the agents of The Adjustment Bureau or as some may see them as a type of guardian angel whose single purpose is to make sure everyone’s fate goes according to the plan “The Chairman” created.

When agent Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie) of The Adjustment Bureau gives David options toward changing his fate, David is forced to either let Elise go and receive his predetermined path or risk his life and all he has worked for to resist fate and start a life with the woman of his dreams.

The Adjustment Bureau causes its viewers to reach deep into their imagination for the agents of The Adjustment Bureau wear magic hats that allow them to step into doors that lead to different destinations through the streets of New York City. These magic hats play a key role in David choosing between fate and free will.

Directed by George Nolfi and based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, The Adjustment Bureau is a must see movie, with the strong on scene chemistry provided between Damon and Blunt; both male and female moviegoers will leave the theater knowing that the heart wants what it wants and no seen and unseen forces can destroy that need.

This film is rated PG-13 and is in theaters today.

REGAL RATINGS

FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT

THREE CROWNS=GOOD

TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE

ONE CROWN=POOR

Winston is a contributing writer for Regal Black Men's Magazine, a publication dedicated to the African American community.