In Kevin restrictive new reality, prayer has been outlawed and scripture is illegal. When they start shooting, however, the film takes a hard turn into amateur territory. That’s how Kevin winds up stuck in the grimly authoritarian police state where most of the film takes place, a godless slum city patrolled by heavily armed stormtroopers in opaque white visors - a neat design touch that gives the movie a menacing dystopian edge. The rules are confusing, to say the least, though the important thing for Kevin to understand is that this devilish tour guide can pluck people from one universe and “shift” them to another, effectively banishing them from their old lives. “Choice breeds infinite possibilities,” the Benefactor explains, with a new universe branching off every time someone makes a decision - sort of a high-concept negation of free will. The Benefactor comes across a bit like Morpheus at first (or else a Satanic version of Dean Stockwell’s “Quantum Leap” character), appearing at the site of a terrible car accident, where he explains to Kevin how all those realities work. It’s not immediately clear what the multiverse idea has to do with that, apart from offering a dramatic shortcut to deprive Kevin of everything that was going well in his life before. Writer-director Brock Heasley doesn’t approach the film as a direct adaptation, but instead focuses on the underlying lesson so many take from Job: It’s normal to question why a benevolent deity would allow people to suffer, and yet the character serves as an example for remaining steadfast in the face of such trials. “The Shift” is billed as a contemporary retelling of the book of Job, in which God tests a man who has everything he could want by stripping him of his family, friends and property, but still the man does not turn his back on his creator. That’s where the movie’s other big biblical connection comes in.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |