My Review of "Knowing"

I went to see the new Nicolas Cage film Knowing today. I went in not sure of what to expect because one review I had read said that Christians will either love this film or absolutely hate it...there will be no in between.

After having seen the film now, I think that is a very accurate statement.

The story opens in the sweet-and-innocent 1950s. The children—at least the children at William Dawes Elementary School—are full of optimism and hope: When their teacher asks them to draw pictures of what they think the world will look like in 50 years—pictures to place in a time capsule—they draw rockets and flying cars.

Well, except for one little girl named Lucinda, who instead covers her paper with lines and lines of numbers. So absorbed is she that she doesn't even get to finish writing before the teacher whisks her paper away.

Fast-forward 50 years, and a new generation of William Dawes students opens the capsule to marvel at these bright pictures of the future. Well, except for the kid who sees Lucinda's numbers.

The kid—Caleb's his name—brings home the paper and obliquely suggests that it might be a code of some sort. John, Caleb's father and a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, decides (after a few whiskeys) that Caleb could be right. In fact, many of the numbers seem to correspond with the dates of every major tragedy in the last 50 years, along with the number of those killed. 9/11? It's on there. Tsunamis in southeast Asia? Check. Oklahoma City bombing? Check.

John sees that there are just three dates left on the sheet—and all of them are set to take place over the next few days. Which leaves John to ask himself some pretty hard questions:

Does this mean that our lives are guided?

That our fates are predetermined?

Can we change our future?

Am I going crazy?

Could this sheet of paper represent an even more ominous future than a few plane crashes?

Here's the deal. This movie deals with some very tough issues. Determinism, fatalism, random evolution are all themes that pop up in this movie with lots and lots of spiritual overtones.

There is a ton of biblical imagery in the movie...especially end time imagery. They have the earth being destroyed by fire, they have angel-like creatures that come to hearken the world's end (four of them actually). There is one scene when one of these creatures opens his mouth and light and a trumpet-like blast comes forth.

There is the Bible placed on a bed side of the one woman who seemed to be able to predict all of this (she's also portrayed as crazy).

So the movie is full of biblical images. Even a new earth is shown at the end.

But there are unsettling themes as well. I only heard two cuss words. The darkness of all of this was a bit unnerving. There is no return of Jesus. There is no Bible usage per se. The number code is the most important thing...not references to Scripture.

And the other oddly disturbing thing is the fact that all that happened could have a simple scientific explanation or it could be a spiritual thing or it could even be an alien thing. The angelic creatures I spoke of, could very well be aliens...but they are very intentionally given angelic-like qualities...but they have also have a "ship" which is unlike your typical flying saucer.

So all in all, the movie kind of leaves you feeling the tension between is it spiritual or is it scientific? They really don't make a conclusion one way or the other.

I enjoyed the film, but it made me think. I like movies that do that. This is probably not a movie for little kids because there are some pretty scary scenes. I actually cowered in my seat at one point!

But it is definitely worth the time. I think you may either hate it or love it!