The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

This movie was so intriguing to me.  As a person who has been brought up to believe in both "free agency" and a "hands-on God,"  I had recognized the conflict between the two, but never quite like this...

"God made sure we couldn't get back home."  ~quote from an LDS mission president in Japan after finding the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami had destroyed their city.

"I will follow God's plan for me." ~lyrics to an LDS children's song.

"There is too much tendency to attribute to God the evils that man does of his own free will." ~Agatha Christie.

"Life is like a game of cards.  The hand you're dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will." ~Jawaharlal Nehru

In this story, the Chairman (or Man Upstairs) has changed the plan -- David and Elise were supposed to be each other's one and only, but then, politically -- for the good of the world -- it was important that they never meet so David would still have the drive to serve his country as a Congressman, Senator, and even President while Elise would have the consolation of becoming a world famous ballerina.  Except they met...oops.  One agent fell asleep on the job and suddenly, the whole plan is offline.  David even walks in on his best friend having an "adjustment."

This whole movie is like being stalked by the mafia...the "agents" (instead of angels) are just plain scary in their Dick Tracy suits running around the city wearing their resistance-is-futile faces and making threats. 

"What about free will?" David asks.
"What about free will?  We gave you free will and you gave us the Dark Ages.  So, we put our hands back in and gave you the Enlightenment, the Renaissance, the Golden Age.  In 1910 we thought you were ready to do it again on your own, and in less than a quarter of a century you gave us World War and the Great Depression." Agent Thompson.

In the end, even the movie/screenwriter has enough of all of the heavy handedness.  Harry, David's personal agent, takes pity on him and shows him how to move through space like the agents do.  They map out a plan that will give David a chance to stop Elise from marrying the man the Adjustment Bureau has put in her path.  In the end, when the dust clears, David's determination changes the Chairman's mind.  In the end, we're all left wondering just how involved God is and how much we determine our own path while buffeted about by other people's choices...happy to know that none of us are being stalked by mafia angels.