The Adustment Bureau

Last night I went to see the movie "Adjustment Bureau" with some friends. It had some strong language unfortunately, but other than that, I REALLY enjoyed it!  There were two main reasons that I found this movie well worth my time:

1) I was emotionally drawn into the movie.  There's nothing more boring to me than a movie that doesn't draw me in to the characters in a way that I either can sympathize or empathize with them, or more importantly that doesn't makes me WANT to do so.  I've seen a lot of movies lately where I can see the intentions of the writers, but they just don't do a good job evoking any emotion from me.  This often happens because they don't evolve a character enough, don't give enough background, or the character is just plain unrelatable to me.  The emotional involvement was definitely there for me in this movie.

2) The message I got from it and the thought process that it evoked in me was well received.  What's funny is that I can't decided exactly what the writer(s) was going for in way of overall point.  They could have been trying to say that religion isn't necessary, and that spirituality is what counts no matter what you call the higher power that you believe in, and that people shouldn't conform like mindless sheeps.  Perhaps this really is what they were going for. I'm honestly not sure, but I DO know what I took away from the movie.  

• The first message I took away from the movie was to not let the idea of fate or destiny dissuade you from getting what you truly want.  Too often I find myself and others sitting back and waiting for things that we say that we want, to drop into our laps, or who we want to become to happen with some sudden transformation.  Act, don't be acted upon. Sound familiar?

• Sometimes you need to let logic take a backseat to how you feel about something.  I find it extremely important to be logical and rational in my approach to things, but I also feel that it's important to pay attention to emotional intelligence as well.  When things don't make sense logically,  it can be very hard to rely on a gut feeling, or to listen to what you heart is telling you.  What can be even harder is when things DO make sense logically, but it just doesn't feel right.  

• If you don't use the gifts that God gave you, then you either lose them, or its as if you don't have the gift at all...seemingly obvious, I realize.  Think about how many people you know that don't use their minds to be able to make decisions that are best for them.  Perhaps you find yourself doing this.  God gave us a brain, He expects us to use it to benefit others and help ourselves where possible.  There are some things that God just has to make happen if it's going to happen, but we need to use the resources wisely that He has given us first and then expect help from above.

• The way that Satan works is extremely crafty.  The way that he is able to convince people to follow him is often by imitations of God's original creations.  In our lives, Satan will seek to convince that we're free even if we follow him.  Often times this is by making us think that because we choose what to wear each day, or free to choose between restaurants, or between Redbox or going to a movie, that we're free. But when it comes down to bigger, life altering decisions, we find that we're not as free as we may have thought. Either because we find ourselves addicts to some item(s), or because we're limited by choices that we've made in our pasts that have been unresolved, thus leaving us to face consequences that have lurked in the background only to arise at pivotal and importune times.  Often what we perceive as "freedom" is really restrictive in the end, and vice-versa.

Those are a few messages that I managed to derive from the movie, whether intended or not on the part of the writer.  Whether you're interested in seeing it just for entertainment value, or because you're intrigued by the points that I've brought up, I encourage checking it out.