STRANGER THAN FICTION, STRAIGHTER THAN FACT

Imagine yourself living a routine. You wake up each day with the same yawn greeting the first light of morning. You brush your teeth and taking a bath at exactly the same way each day before going to work. You enter the same office cubicle each day. You earn the adequate wage you needed to survive each day and still enjoy the simple pleasures that it could offer.

Suddenly, out of the nowhere you discover that someone is dictating your every move. Someone else is controlling you. Someone else is moving you against your will. Someone else is writing down the whole course that your life would take. The exact routine, the precise events, down to the very minute detail has been written down. You learn that your whole life has been like a puppet on strings. Worse yet, that someone have already plotted your imminent death.

Scary isn’t it?

This same scenario is the basic plot of the film “Stranger than Fiction.” Starring Will Farrel as Harold Crick an IRS agent who finds himself in a tragic novel by sadistic writer Karen Eiffel (portrayed by Emma Thompson).

The movie is far from what we could call a blockbuster film. It has neither grand special effects nor special setting. It has no car chases, gun fights or any adrenaline-pounding scenes. It is the film’s subtle and crafty (not to mention funny) way of injecting such philosophical thoughts and ideas that make it a worth watch.

Watching the film allowed me to reflect on how these ideas could be possible. I found out that the film sought to explore and play with several concepts:

 

WHAT IS REAL?

The film plays with the reality issue: is this world real? Similar to the concepts toyed by the film “The Matrix,” “Stranger than Fiction” doesn’t show reality as planes and dimensions as showed by the former. In the film, as Eiffel meets the character she created, she was surprised when Crick whom she is about to kill in the novel was a real living person. She sees a fictional character come to life. This leads to another question: what would happen if she killed him in the novel?

As Christians, we believe in a different reality issue. We see this world as temporary compared to the real world awaiting us when Jesus returns. It is a simple concept that wouldn’t be surprising even to our Author. In fact, the Author of each of our stories would even be more than happy to meet and talk with us.

 

WHO IS IN CONTROL?

Emma Thompson in the film portrays a writer with a flair for the tragic and sadistic end of the characters in her novels. In the film, she tried to conjure several scenarios on how the protagonist (Will Farrel/Harold Crick) would die. However, she found each scenario either boring or impractical. How she decided to end the man’s life became too tragic and important at the same time.

In addition to this, all throughout the film, certain scenes of men, women and a kid who seemed to be not related to the story were being flashed. In the end, however, it appeared that these people’s lives were also interwoven by Eiffel to give justice to the death of Harold Crick. In the process, it showed the extent of the author’s grip was not only exclusive to that of the protagonist but to others as well. Furthermore, even the steps that the protagonist took to meet the author seemed to be a part of the story itself. It is control beyond measure. It’s like playing God.

So who is in control? True enough, in the world of fiction, any writer would have complete control of the world they create. They have complete power over every character. Everything is in the hands of the author. And whatever twist he or she might conjure could be possible.

Consider us blessed. The real fact stands that we have only one Author and that Author would never be so twisted as to lead us into harm. Although He may have the entire power to control each one of us, He still opted to give us the reigns to choose for ourselves. He gives us the option to be controlled or be left alone. He allowed us to choose for ourselves but would still receive us with arms wide open whenever we come back crying.

Well, enough making you guess. Of course I’m talking about God. He is the Author and Creator of this world we are walking in. He knew us from the very start and loved us.

 

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE IN LIFE?

Perhaps one of the most evident concepts in the whole film is on a person’s real purpose in life. In the case of the obsessive compulsive Harold Crick, his whole purpose as weaved by Karen Eiffel surprisingly became significant in the lives of other people, particularly to a young boy’s life. But to see your life being controlled by a single person would entail a purpose and a rationale you cannot entirely see.

The whole film shows how blindly the hero works through his way to find the voice that dictates his life not knowing that every move he makes is written by that same voice. It shows craftily how a person’s purpose is being entirely controlled by someone else. Even though he thinks he is completely free, his way of thinking, his mannerisms, his daily routine, even his love-life is under the control of someone else.

I shudder at the thought that such a thing could be possible. What if you’re entirely a character in a novel being read or written by someone else? What if all this time, you were unaware that your whole life is being dictated by an entity?

Weird isn’t it?

But let us be rest assured that a Maker such as our God isn’t that way. He doesn’t enforce His will on us. Instead he gives us full reigns to let us be in control of our lives. He has a purpose for each one of us but it is for us to accept it. And if God was in control of our lives, in charge of our purpose, we really don’t have to worry.

 

As Christians we really should not fear that something like “Stranger than Fiction” could happen. Consider that if we really look at it and if we really wanted it, someone else is already in control of our lives. And that someone else is more powerful than anyone of us. That someone else is a mightier and craftier than any writer or filmmaker we know. Best of all, that same someone else loves us more than we could ever know and that is the truest fact you could ever know.