Evan Almighty

I seem to be watching a lot of movies these days – a good half an hour or more later after they begin. I guess that should disqualify me from posting reviews on any of them. ;-) But hey, this is a blog – not a column in any of the newspapers. So, I will go ahead and post this one anyways.

Many of you must have seen “Bruce Almighty”. If so, I am in a minority – I purposefully keep away from any movie that stars Jim Carrey because of the firm belief that when it’s time for Carrey’s shot the directors must be running for cover. If not, I wonder why they allow him to twist and turn his face in so many permutations and combinations. It, no doubt, does credit to God for sending us down with so many facial muscles, and also to Carrey - for demonstrating it all to us. But what has it got to do with acting? The only exception I made to the rule was “The Truman Show”.

Anyways, so here I am talking about the sequel to the movie – Evan Almighty. It’s about Congressman Evan Baxter who is being harassed by Congressman Long to co-sponsor a bill to allow development in US national parks. But God (Morgan Freeman again!) has other plans for Evan – such as building an ark. Evan is one Doubting Thomas alright but he sees clearly that he is waging a losing battle with the Almighty when right in the middle of a session about that bill, Evan’s clothes change to something straight out of Noah’s wardrobe.  His hair and beard have already assumed matching proportions. He starts construction even as he becomes a laughing stock of Washington (with a capital D!)

His domestic life falls apart when his wife and 3 kids walk out on him. But they walk right back in after a “divine intervention” in a fast food joint! Thanks to the helping hand that Evan gets from his family as well as the animal pairs that have arrived on the scene, the ark is completed on time. The only problem is that the whole of DC is experiencing a drought when God has predicted a flood! You gotta see the movie to find out what happens. :-)

I had heard that when Bruce Almighty got released there was some outrage over a “Colored” God. I didn’t see anyting wrong with it though. Maybe as a Hindu I am used to Gods depicted in many different forms – with 4 or 8 hands, with 3 or 4 heads and even with an elephant head. So what if He has a skin that’s a shade darker than some of his children on Earth? I have always believed that it’s better to think of God in a form that’s approachable – not daunting. So even if He comes to me wearing a T-shirt that says “Al Mighty” as I sit munching on my fast food – I would say “Hello There” :-)

Now about the movie - I loved it! It matched perfectly with my belief that God works in ways that only He can understand. We might not immediately see a particular event as beneficial to us but in the long run, it always works best for us – like investment in equities :-) And when we pray for something, He doesn’t hand it over to us on a platter, He opens a door somewhere and expects us to find it and walk right in. Don’t believe me? I quote what God says in this movie:

"Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”

And if you think “Ark” simply means a boat, you are mistaken. It’s an acronym. Don’t believe me? Go watch the movie to figure out its full form :-)

P.S. The following links give interesting trivia and quotes from the movie. Do check them out.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413099/trivia
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413099/quotes