March 28, 2019
Movie Thoughts: Knowing
The other night we had a movie night. This had to be something mostly family friendly because everyone was awake. Yes, even Thea was awake, but I’m sure she wasn’t paying attention to the movie just yet.
See, maybe because I’m old, or a morning person, or was exhausted from the work week, or… I’ll figure out an excuse later… short of it is, I go to sleep early. Okay, earlier than my teens… okay, even earlier than my almost-teen. My husband works late. He is a night-owl. So they usually watch anything that has too much blood, bad words, or unsafe-for-little-people-stuff after I’m asleep.
SO… queue the air-popped popcorn with yummy butter and salt, some fresh-cut potato French Fries and Sweet Potato Fries, and lemonade… the movie was on.
We watched Nicholas Cage in “Knowing.”
Louis said it was a horror film. (I asked if he had lost his marbles… I wanted the little ones to sleep in their beds!) Honestly, I think this designation was to entice the teens to watch it with us.
Oh my goodness. What a strange, twisting, amazing movie.
**SPOILER ALERT**
If you want to watch the movie without knowing all the twists, stop reading now and go borrow it from the library. Seriously, this is worth the watch. We will likely watch it again.
The story acts like a psychological thriller. Strange dark-cloaked “apparitions” aka “ghosts” aka “spirits” appear and disappear through the 50 years of time reflected in the film. “Whispers,” as the affected children call the voices in their heads, keep relaying numerical information and give visions to the children after the dark-cloaked strangers give them an otherworldly rock.
Dad (Nicholas Cage) is a grieving widower astrophysicist pastor’s son who has turned his on faith and believes, as he tells his students, that the universe is a collection of haphazard mistakes and there is nothing but chaos. He drowns his hopeless unbelief in a variety of alcoholic beverages to self-medicate his depression.
The son is hard of hearing (wears a hearing aid) and deeply misses his mother and the happiness that lived in his home before her death. He happens to be given a message from the first child (written 50 years ago and locked in a time capsule at her/his school) that is a sheet of apparently random numbers.
But the numbers aren’t random. They are the date (in short form) of a catastrophe and the number of people who died from it… and the “unknown” digits following (which if you have been listening to a Civil Air Patrol Chief talking about orienteering and navigation by GPS, you see that these same length “unknown” numbers are latitude and longitude).
What clenches it for Dad is when he finds the date of his wife’s death (a fire that claimed many) as one of the catastrophes in this list. He realizes this message is personally meant for his family. Now he launches into investigation to find out who wrote the message, where she is, why she wrote it, and to find the connection to his family.
Symbolism begins to appear here as the audience starts figuring out the story. The first hint for me was the fire vision with the animals fleeing but nowhere to go. (Destroy the Earth by fire.) The dark-cloaked strangers have shielded eyes but bright faces. (How would you hide glory unless shielded by darkness yet there’s still light in their faces?) This is revealed at the very end with the darkness falling away and now they are bright, amazing beings. (And the viewer whispers, “every time a person sees an angel, they have to say “fear not,” no wonder!”)
When “EE” is revealed to be “Everyone Else” the title is explained. Now, they know.
At the end sequence, notice the “Pearly Gates,” “streets of gold,” “white linen garments,” and other symbolism played out – how they make it come to life is pure amazement. Everything is explained in such a unique way.
This movie is rated PG (likely for the alcohol and “disturbing images”). It’s actually very well put together. The storyline seems fractured but falls into place and you wonder how you missed it.
Thanks for reading!
Type at you next time…
~Nancy Tart
