Analysis of "The Adjustment Bureau" as a Biblical Allegory

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The apparent contradiction between man’s free will and God’s omnipotent plan is the source of pages and pages of speculation, argument, and philosophizing throughout Christianity’s history – both of Believers and non-Believers. The Adjustment Bureau presents a science fiction interpretation of this conflict in Hollywood fashion of intrigue and heroism, ultimately arriving at its own resolution with minimal crisis of veracity. Nonetheless, it is a story that rings with truth to the Believer and invites us to examine our gift of free will through a new lens. Young political hopeful, David Norris, is the central character of the story. He meets the woman of his dreams and is constantly foiled by fate in his efforts to get to know her – she has to run from security before telling him who she is, he loses her number, his political obligations intrude on their plans to rendezvous. They seemed destined not to end up together. That is until he discovers, due to a mistake made by the Adjustment Bureau, that there is actually a secret parallel dimension bureaucracy that has been tasked to keep this couple from uniting. As the plot unfolds, we learn that the mysterious God-esque Chairman, for reasons of greater importance on a global scale than David and the woman, Elise’s, happiness together, has determined the two should not be involved in each other’s life. We learn that this chairman has pseudo-sovereign power to direct the decisions and actions of individuals on earth in order to ensure that a supreme “Plan” is fulfilled. The Chairman employs the Bureau to instigate small accidents or tweak random events that cause small delays or departures in the daily actions of people, actions that when slightly changed cause a “ripple effect” that end up drastically altering the direction of that person’s or another’s life. The Plan is depicted in the film as a notebook with

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