# Films involving free will?



## tinymonkeyt (Oct 27, 2010)

I have to do a movie review for any film that basically has a free will theme and I was wondering if you guys know of any titles? I don't watch a lot of movies myself, but I think many of you do so please suggest away! Two examples we watched in class were Minority Report and The Truman Show!

Thanks in advance!


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## DeMoN (Oct 27, 2010)

The Matrix is a great example, but I have a feeling someone else in your class might have chosen it already.


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## craplame (Oct 27, 2010)

How about Stranger Than Fiction? It's very similar to the Truman Show.


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## hullo8d (Oct 27, 2010)

You can interpret many films to deal with issues in the idea of free will, all you have to do is be creative. I'd suggest Groundhog Day since it could easily be swayed to to deal with the idea of free will, plus you get to watch a classic comedy with fucking Bill Murray.


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## Westside (Oct 27, 2010)

... sorry couldn't resist.


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## hullo8d (Oct 27, 2010)

inb4 obvious free willy joke is edited


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## Koumori_Knight (Oct 27, 2010)

V for Vendetta is a good one with heavy free will themes.
Strangely enough, speed racer had an interesting thread of free will argument.
Moon, with Sam Rockwell really messed with my head on that front too..
That is all I have.
Good luck, I wish you!


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## exangel (Oct 27, 2010)

Waking Life
A Scanner Darkly
Riverworld (this one is rather long though, perhaps over 3 hours)
Surrogates

(if time-travel related free will is as permissable as other sci-fi...)
Primer (this film may require multiple watchings in order to incorporate subtleties into an actual full comprehension of the plot though)
S. Darko (though watching this before watching Donnie Darko and/or watching both in the same night in the correct chronological order, either way, is pretty much going to be confusing unless you've already "beaten" every other movie in the mindfuck genre)

Meet Joe Black

and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind


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## Schizoanalysis (Oct 27, 2010)

Quote Sartre and you'll get extra marks:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre


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## ComplicatioN (Oct 27, 2010)

The Shawshank Redemption
I determined "free will" as breaking free in this case.
GREAT MOVIE!


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## FAST6191 (Oct 27, 2010)

Apologies if some of my links are broken/wrong- my address bar seems to have frozen/broken so copying and pasting may not be quite accurate.

Free will as in determinism/preordained destiny* or free will as in wilful (and as it is a film the full phrase is probably something like wilful against overwhelming odds)?

It gets quite difficult for the determinism part as it is a somewhat unpopular theme (most of the things I see tend to be sci fi TV shows), the latter is more popular as everybody loves visions.
*I am thinking physics (usually multiple universes type thing- possibly something like The One)

More commonly time travel
12 Monkeys
Primer explores it extensively.
Dark Country 

Supernatural can also work
Triangle http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187064/ actually references various pieces of Greek/Roman underworld mythology which is a great fan of such things) there rather than the rather more loose but infinitely more popular seer/vision/prediction via wizard/wise man/similar or madman.

If you want to go basic Hollywood then Push ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465580/ ) works quite well.

The overwhelming odds is almost a cliché at this point in time so I will leave that one to you.
If you were bored there is a fourth type about people railing against "their destiny to be a nobody" or more realistically the unrelenting horror that is suburbia (sociologically and for many psychologically speaking suburbia is horrific- it might be a bit strong for a school report but Ken Park does that quite nicely http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209077/

I could spin it a fifth time and got the 24 hours to live type of thing- you could go for something simple lift Zift of Crank or spin it again and go for something like city of lost children, dark city or a further time and go for something like operation endgame, smokin aces another time for things like Blade runner.

A final time might be for the stories from multiple angles routine (often a historical story)- they usually start at the end (or close to it) and cover various things getting to there. I admit it is a stretch but do it well and it will be good, stuff like Thursday http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124901/ (if you can find it) work well.

Hope you find something.


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## BlueStar (Oct 27, 2010)

Donnie Darko is definitely a good suggestion, although it is indeed a bit of a mind fuck.  If you want to allude to games, you could give Bioshock a passing mention, as it explores the idea of free will in an interactive way.

EDIT: Memento perhaps?


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## Javacat (Oct 27, 2010)

Free Will on IMDB!


Not much listed on there, but meh..


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## Strider (Oct 27, 2010)

Besides Matrix and Donnie Darko, both of which have already been mentioned I can suggest Equilibrium - you should really watch that.


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## KingdomBlade (Oct 27, 2010)

Blood Diamond, V for Vendetta, Milk, Freedom Writers (I guess), Schindler's List, Pocahontas/Avatar/Dances with Wolves (all the same movies), Nineteen Eighty-Four, A Clockwork Orange,  The Running Man, Battle Royale, Akira, Children of Men.

Not really sure, but I would recommend Clockwork Orange or V for Vendetta, but Battle Royale is my personal fave.


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## BlueStar (Oct 27, 2010)

Devil's Advocate maybe?  Not in the Donnie Darko/Matrix sense of predestination, but the situation whereby you think you are exercising free will but you are actually being controlled.


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## hullo8d (Oct 27, 2010)

exangel said:
			
		

> Waking Life
> A Scanner Darkly
> Riverworld (this one is rather long though, perhaps over 3 hours)
> Surrogates
> ...



Waking Life is a great nihilistic movie and I would recommended it as well. Also any film that had Phillip K Dick's ideas in it usually will deal with freewill, correct me if I'm wrong but both Minority Report and Scanner Deeply were both based on short stories he had written.


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## injected11 (Oct 27, 2010)

Being John Malkovich!


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## nando (Oct 27, 2010)

free willy


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## p1ngpong (Oct 27, 2010)

Don't forget I, Robot.


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## exangel (Oct 28, 2010)

hullo8d said:
			
		

> exangel said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I don't know about Minority Report but Scanner Darkly is based on a Philip K Dick story according to the guy who sold me my nook e-Reader.
I knew it was based on a book before I watched it but wasn't familiar with the author until September when I got my nook.  


I think, of the films I've seen that are listed in this thread so far, the *easiest* to actually write a report about the 'free will' topic would be Stranger Than Fiction, A Clockwork Orange, A Scanner Darkly, or Waking Life.


Once you start getting into films like Donnie Darko/S. Darko and Primer, though they will be very entertaining to watch, I wouldn't be able to explain those films well enough to outline the plots and pose question/answers regarding free will, just because time travel and causality are really a bonus can of worms.  I wouldn't say that others aren't up to the task, but if I had to write a coherent report about Primer which is actually a rather short film, I'd wind up hating the film for being so complicated (I've seen it three times _and_ read the script... and somehow, I still love it).


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## Vidboy10 (Oct 28, 2010)

V for Vendetta and 1984 are really good movies about free will.


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## Javacat (Oct 29, 2010)

Holy moly moley, I've just remembered a film about free will! Life Of Brian!

There's also Logan's Run. Your teacher might appreciate that one


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## Shinigami357 (Oct 30, 2010)

Uh... The bi-centennial man, maybe? (Android turns into a human, muahahahaha. Kinda cool, though)


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