The Adjustment Bureau
Nowadays people like to talk about freedom and human rights, not realizing that the freedom which we supposed to be in our hand is extremely limited in fact. Said rudely, our whole life is just other’s plan all the time.
In the beginning, the time when we are given birth to is precisely designed in advance. When we are just toddlers, we are supposed to eat what kind of baby milk powders and use which brand of diapers. Though we get a bit older, we are still programmed which school to go or what kind of training course to take. Some years later, when we are at the passionate age, we are warned not to fall in love at an early age. Be sure not to smoke and associate with friends of negative quality and so on.
In the end, our physical and actual age reach the standard of the adults. However, we cannot get the rid of the plan what is specially made for us. What job shall we get, which person is the most suitable to be our boy friend or girl friend, even who will be our life-partner is also involved by others.
We suppose that we would be independent completely after the marriage, only to find that it is just a dream. Because when we should have a baby is also arranged as before, following by our baby’s whole life being controlled by others.
If you agree on the words above, please believe that it is understandable when those people who call themselves as angels try their best to keep David
and Elise from getting together. Something interesting is that once those people arranging things for us discover our ideas of reversing the plan, the saying that “it is just good for you” will be presented. Finding that it has no effect, they will turn to “if you do not follow me, such unexpected things bad for you will happen, and you have to take the responsibility” to threat you.
So it is s not difficult to find that The Adjustment Bureau telling the romantic story covered by the scientific fiction, it is designed to tell us the truth which is the most common in the universe while not being realized.
In the film, the angels seemed to be interfering the love between the hero and the heroine, acting as the matchmaker, but in fact they were controlling people’s life in all aspects.
As a matter of a fact, it is not others but those along with us in reality.
Sometimes, they are our parents, teachers, bosses, even ourselves. I have to say that people make plans for themselves is quite rare, while those always control others can be seen everywhere.
As for the market’s response, the film’s box office is not that shining, but it is highly spoken. It benefits not only from the delicate design of the novel, but also from the rational adaptation by Nolfi. The film is embraced by the suspense all the time. There are some difficulties to understand what the mystical organization do and where they come from at first and later why they set obstacles for David and
Elise. It didn’t make the reason why these angels are above humans nor make clear why they stop the lovers from falling in love.
In the end, the film leaves the audience the impression of those angels do nothing but to break up the lovers all day. There is no wonder that it is given the name “Start off with a bang and end with a whimper”.