Knowing Human-like As the mystery of the numbers unravels, John learns that not only can he not stop the final event, but that it will wipe out all human life. With the aliens seen taking the children to another planet to start a new civilization, Knowing's ending actually subtly references the Ancient . After closer examination from his father John Koestler, he discovers the future predicting nature of the paper. Even a few quiet, human moments have something coiling beneath. At the films end, Koestler also seems to understand why he cant go with Caleb, and accepts this as fitting in some way. While Caleb tries to bring his mum back through videos and talking about her, Koestler shuts down. It didn't fit with the rest of the film at all. In the moments before destruction, his father comforts him with the words: this isnt the end. "We know very little about the nature, essence, powers and capabilities of angels," the authors write. 'Sons of God' (Hebrew bene elohim) is clearly used of angels in Job 38:7. Abigail (for which Abby is a nickname) in the Bible is the wife of King David and daughter of Jesseand Jesus' descent is traced from King David and "Jesse's Seed".Finally, it seems to be the filmmakers' intent to link the story to the biblical end times prophecies (and therefore to angels, whatever they may be) with the last scene, in which John Koestler returns to his father, a pastor, and to faith in biblical prophecy and an afterlife. Moses could have said . . Before Lucinda finished the page, it was put in a time capsule filled with drawings of children's interpretations of the future in 50 years as a project funded by William Dawes Elementary School. The Strangers then kidnap Caleb and Abby with Diana chasing after them. Adam itself, the designated "First Angel", is occasionally included with its offspring when . The next day, Abby colors in the sun on the engraving, which gives John a revelation. The story was told from the point of view of a priest or pastor (I believe he was a Lutheran pastor, but I could be mis-remembering) who didn't buy the theory that it was angels who were fighting humanity; they were just aliens, and God still loved humanity. The visitors have been interacting . Edit, The black stones came from the place where the ship was stationed; you can see them clearly as the ship takes off. All the children create visual works except for Lucinda Embry. Dianas death exactly at midnight on the day Lucinda predicted is a clue to Johns fate. So by dividing 1 by 1/000, I would get a Bayes factor of 1,000 - boosting my estimate by a factor of 1,000. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. Ryne Douglas Pearson. Or, it may have had a purpose similar to Noah's Ark, with the child refugees of Earth taking with them two animals from various species in order to save and repopulate not just humanity, but the Earth's animal species, as well. In the second chapter of the Bible, we are told that God created the heavens and the earth, and everything in them. That picture is actually a reverse copy of Matthus Merian's 17th century engraving of Ezekiel's "chariot vision." This is a striking contrast to hell-like scenes of Earth consumed by fire and brimstone. Edit, Maybe the other children were children with various types of knowledge and skills. . Despite the sci-fi premise, Knowing's third act wasn't too far from being a Nicolas Cage horror movie, with Koestler attempting to protect his son, Caleb (Chandler Canterbury), from humanity's impending extinction. John (Nicolas Cage) figures out that the last number isn't 33, it's "EE" meaning "Everyone Else." As he realises that a huge solar flare is about to destroy the planet, he follows clues left by Diana (Rose Byrne)'s mother to the location of her mobile . At night, Stranger ships appear to be black in color, but in daylight, they appear either white or light blue. So why is the ending such a headscratcher? Koestlers dysfunctional relationship with his father, Koestler, a man of science, wrestles with spiritual concepts of predetermination, There are images and references to prediction and Biblical prophesy, The aliens send a messenger ahead of doomsday; so does the Bible, As they return to their ship, the aliens transform into, The Poseidon Adventure (disaster movies, priests). Psychic Stephany Cohen claims to have had repeated, consensual, sexual relations with a group of extraterrestrials that she refers to as "Team Spirit.". He would not have let anyone visit earth and interfere with His new creation , without any knowledge and permission on His part. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge . Heres how it works. It is also unknown why they only focus on evacuating those with the ability to hear their speech, with possible reasons ranging from resource constraints to something supernatural possibly relating to destiny, which the Strangers would know of due to their clairvoyance. As much as the portentous tone adopted by director Alex Proyas ("Dark City") may invite cynicism, "Knowing" really is, at the end of the day, a highly effective slice of conspiracy paranoia; the story of John Koestler (Cage) and Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne)'s quest to untangle the truth of the Lucinda Embry numbers fully capitalizes on the inherent power of keeping the audience in the dark. While Caleb believes his mum died and went to heaven, Koestler doesn't. This comes back to bite at end, when Caleb is rescued and Koestler isn't. He walked with God for 300 years after the birth of Methuselah, given that honor above all other humans. Angel ([? By including so much religious allegory, Knowing actually sets up its own ending relatively early on by foreshadowing Nicolas Cage's character death and spiritual redemption. In the Book of Enoch, he describes being taken to heaven . Arthur Koestler and The Roots of Coincidence). For both John and Diana, the conspiracy is at once soothing and frightening. By Gene W Strasser Jul 29, 2022 3:46 PM EDT. The estimated gross for global domestic video sales is US$27.6 million. She believes that she has entered their UFO in a spirit form while her physical body is asleep. [15] The plane crash, which was mostly shown in one take in the film, was done in a nearly-finished freeway outside Melbourne, the Geelong Ring Road, mixing practical effects and pieces of a plane with computer-generated elements. He hadn't abandoned his faith. Later in the week, I was blind-sided by the negative reaction. Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. Fate can be known in advance (i.e., Lucindas code) but that fate is inescapable. They also discover that the final two digits of Lucinda's message are not numbers, but two reversed letter E's, matching the message left by Lucinda under her bed: "Everyone Else" implying an extinction-level event. The seventeenth-century mystic Amos Komensky (1592-1670) declared that each child has an angel "given to him by God and ordained to be his guardian, that [the angel] might guard him, preserve him, and . Despite the clear alien technology at the end, the creepy "visitors" might still be thought of as angels (or, better, as aliens that could be mistaken for angels). Strangers are also capable of shapeshifting, covering up their energy forms with Human-like disguises, which can emit bright lights from their mouths and teleport. I know that red hair is said to be caused by minerals in the earth but I am not so sure this explains away the number of red-haired giants . They possess no discernable facial features, with their glow appearing to fade out by their lower legs, their feet rendered almost invisible. Caleb and Abby are taken away to a distant planet, while John and Everyone Else the EE mentioned in the alien code are left to a fiery annihilation. The Mayans considered this a historic event, as the previous world (the third attempt, by that stage) was written off as a failure by their gods after its 13th b'ak'tun. ", "Patents and the Movie Industry: Stopping Nicholas Cage", "GLOBAL FINDABILITY, INC. v. SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT, LLC et al", "August Coppola, arts educator, dies at 75. Its destiny. The time traveler doesn't believe humans will win the first "interdimensional war" and says people can "rent" superpowers. Unlike other disaster movies, however, they dont make it. The lunar module pilot was one of two crew members on-board Apollo 12 . Knowing grossed $186.5 million at the worldwide box office, plus $27.7 million with home video sales, against an average production budget of $50 million. The Whisper people are actually aliens who sent the numbers as a message. 6 Stephany Fay Cohen. Knowing movie clips: http://j.mp/1BZjFlvBUY THE MOVIE: http://j.mp/1AVwACWDon't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6prCLIP DESCRIPTION:John Koe. All Aliens are deceivers. [9], The film is set primarily in the town of Lexington with some scenes set in the nearby cities of Cambridge and Boston. Since there were other spaceships leaving the earth, does that mean that the whisper people whispered the same numbers to other people around the world? 1999: Nicolas Cage plays MIT professor of astrophysics and widower John Koestler (cf. The Strangers' ships were seen leaving at the end, but it remains possible that some Strangers remained on the planet to provide guidance to the growing children, unless Human adults were also evacuated off-screen. Can you estimate the angles within 5 degrees? Job 38:7 tells us that when our world was created, "the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy.". The picture Lucinda used to stare at for hours, the one Abby colors the sun in, is a drawing representing the visions of the Prophet Ezekiel from the Hebrew Bible, specifically God's chariot. The Bible calls them Giants or Nephilim. The Caleb of the Bible, who was with Moses in Exodus, led the tribe of Judah, and because of his faith that the Israelites could claim the new homeland given them by God, he was one of only two adult Israelites allowed to survive their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. If the aliens had brought the kids into an unspecified situation, with both Cage's John Koestler and audiences never knowing their fate, it would have kept the conversation going long after the credits rolled. He writes, "Cage plays an astronomer, and his discussions with a colleague hint that the film may actually grapple with the question of predicting the future, perhaps even offer a plausible theory. Knowing (stylized as KNOW1NG) is a 2009 American science fiction thriller film directed and co-produced by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The skeptical and hysterical Diana loads Caleb and Abby into her car and flees for the caves. It's possible that the rabbits are intended to help the children's new civilization by establishing a food chain. Some people even think that guardian angels are . Stranger Proyas explained the goal, "I did that specifically to not let the artifice of visual effects and all the cuts and stuff we can do, get in the way of the emotion of the scene. He and Lucinda's daughter Diana Embry then investigated Lucinda's old mobile home and discovered that the casualty number for the last set of numbers on Lucinda's paper "33" was actually "EE" in reverse which meant "Everyone Else". This is a wild extension of a common view that the 'sons of God' who married the "daughters of men" were fallen angels. Production studios Escape Artists and DMG Entertainment opted for a happy ending though, where the saved kids of Earth are taken to a paradise, bringing an adorable-yet-contextually-nonsensical bunny with them on an interstellar ark (a vehicle with a similar purpose to the ship in the problematic Passengers). [42], Steve Biodrowski of Cinefantastique refers to the film's approach as disappointingly "pseudo-scientific". Knowing is based on a story originally written by American novelist Ryne Pearson. [5] Locations included the Geelong Ring Road; the Melbourne Museum; "Cooinda", a residence in Mount Macedon which was the location for all of the "home and garden" scenes; and Collins Street. A retired special agent who infiltrated the Hells Angels biker gang as part of a two-year undercover operation is exposing the organization's strict sex rules. Niall is also a certified boxing coach, which goes hand-in-hand with his encyclopedic knowledge of the Rocky franchise, and considers himself something of an expert on Batman. Its a striking piece of music that loops between playful and foreboding. N.p., n.d. John is told he cannot go with them because he never heard the whispering, so he convinces Caleb . The whisper people in the film are apparently supposed to represent Nordic aliens, which are described as looking the most human and have the most connotations in relation with human religion and mythology.The craft in which the whisper people take the children closely matches Ezekiel's vision of a chariot made of many angels. There's also imagery from Genesis used for the film's ending, with Caleb (Adam) and Abby (Eve) seen living on a paradise-like world (Eden), heading for a large tree (the Tree of Knowledge), as well as the spaceship acting as an Ark. From the 1936 earthquake musical San Francisco to 1998's Armageddon, 2004's Day After Tomorrow, and 2021's Don't Look Up, disaster and apocalypse movies both do well at the box office and deliver spectacles that last long in viewers' memories. No other reviews existed at that time. Koestler is not, and is left behind. Knowings musical leitmotif is the Allegretto from Beethovens Symphony No.7 in A major. The only honest way to end the movie would be to deliver something on the scale of their deepest-seated fears, and that's just what "Knowing" offers. The films big tension is between science and religion: While Caleb believes his mum died and went to heaven, Koestler doesnt. The sinister men (or "Whisper People") that are seemingly stalking Caleb throughout the movie are abruptly revealed to be aliens and are also responsible for the prophetic string of numbers that ultimately lead Koestler to the location where the aliens take Caleb with them. Is it worth it? So,this wanky belief is not original,padre! In Matthew and Luke's gospel accounts, Zachariah, Mary, and Joseph all have encounters with angels. Sapient But the narrative corner into which this movie paints itself is a simultaneously brilliant and exciting one. Caleb and Abby looked back at the Stranger crafts as they dropped off more Human children, receding into the sky afterwards. The project was picked up by the production company Escape Artists, and the script was rewritten by Stiles White and Juliet Snowden. Angels surround us all the time figuratively if not literally especially during the holidays. Moreover, Diana and Abby are female counterparts to John and Caleb. The Book of Enoch calls them The Watchers. Ezekiel describes the lowest part of the chariot as a wheel inside a wheel. Meanwhile, the ark, along with others, deposits Caleb and Abby in another world resembling an earthly paradise and departs. The creatures in the 5th trumpet will probably be touted as aliens by the mainstream media and the world, when it happens. Caleb and Abby inherit an unspoilt, Eden-like world. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was enthusiastic, rating it four stars out of four and writing, "Knowing is among the best science-fiction films I've seenfrightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome. The 2009 sci-fi thriller ends with an unforgettable twist, but it leaves a few questions unanswered. Maybe aliens from another universe are beings that do not require salvation as they are already one with God. Men will seek death but won't find it. User Ratings Diana suggests that she take Caleb and Abby to a set of underground caves as shelter and attempts to do so without telling John. He was chosen by God as the best of all humans, fathered Methuselah, who had a son named Lamech, who fathered Noah. Our current world was considered to be a success, and therefore humans were created in it (c. 3000 BC). Instead, by trying to provide answers, Knowing created an unsatisfactory kind of ambiguity, one that was a product of bad storytelling rather than deliberately creating mystique. Language Telepathic Lucinda is the other Cassandra character no one believes. In the occult Saturn Is the dark sun and prison planet" of the fallen angels CERN . So it's possible that Lucinda was simply a messenger the aliens hoped that perhaps somebody would figure out what the dates and predictions meant back when Lucinda wrote them. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian suggested Knowing was saved by its ending, concluding that "the film sticks to its apocalyptic guns with a spectacular and thoroughly unexpected finish. 50 years later, the capsule was resurfaced and the future depictions were given to the future children of William Dawes Elementary School, with Lucinda's being given to a young boy named Caleb Koestler, who also has the ability to hear the Strangers' speech. Edit, Not necessarily. In the film's shocking ending, he entrusts the care of his son to strange alien figures, sending him out among the stars before Earth is consumed by a deadly solar flare. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 83033374. Of course, Knowing isnt the first to sacrifice its lead actor, either as a plot twist or as per the genres reliance on saviours. What exactly is the theory behind this movie? The Strangers are a mysterious alien race of hyper advanced beings that sought to save certain Humans from Earth's impending destruction. Knowing (stylized as KNOW1NG) is a 2009 American science fiction thriller film[4] directed and co-produced by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. Production was financially backed by Summit Entertainment. With Knowing's apocalyptic climax mirroring the Book of Revelation, as well as the various other biblical similarities, it's hardly a stretch to think humanity's saviors could just as likely be angels. Attack of the Clones: The Kaminoans are a hybrid of Space Angels and The Greys . They most certainly seemed to be leaving our galaxy rather than ascending to a literal depiction of Heaven. Psalm 19:1-2 declares: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Guided by whispering voices, Lucinda fills her paper with a series of numbers. It is unknown what happened to the children in the end, but what we do know is that they are safe and with other kids on another planet. Things don't always have to happen the same way twice. This supposedly sci-fi disaster movie flips both genres to create something altogether unexpected. professor John Koestler links a mysterious list of numbers from a time capsule to past and future disasters and sets out to prevent the ultimate catastrophe. In fact, the plot and its themes are very similar to 2002s Signs: Knowing reflects what grieving is like in an understated, naturalistic way. British author Arthur C Clarke wrote a novel Childhood's End (1963) in which aliens enforce peace on Earth so that the children can develop their psychic powers. Inevitably, there are innumerable different ways to interpret the aliens, their means of communication, the solar flare, and the new planet, such that no one explanation can be "correct." Roger Ebert himself argued as much in a passionate defense of the movie, which he wrote in response to the negative reviews: "The ending is spectacular enough that it brings closure, if not explanation," the critic wrote on RogerEbert.com. Translucent rib, spine, and vein-like structures can also be seen within their torsos and heads . The movie had set itself up for an open-ended, intriguing, and possibly unsettling finish. Saying "UFOs are angels" is like saying "UFOs are flying ghosts" or "UFO's are magic flying leprechauns". They could also be considered Hyperversal aliens from a previous Universe cycle whose lack of a physical form and supreme knowledge are most notable. The events of Knowing also renew John's faith and see him reconnect with his father before he dies. It probably had to do with the fact that she could not cope with knowing the world was going to end, so she killed herself before she could be saved. The alien strangers have come to save a select band of survivors: children (see also The Day the Earth Stood Still). I wanted to make the movie credible. Of course hes wrong on a monumental scale, and yet half right. They're a little bit like angels. In 2001, novelist Ryne Douglas Pearson approached producers Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal with his idea for a film, where a time capsule from the 1950s is opened revealing fulfilled prophecies, of which the last one ended with 'EE' "everyone else". The producers liked the concept and bought his script. What type of aliens are represented in the movie? The possible reason for the selection of children is likely a matter of age. If Yoda came from any one of the alien species on this list, it would probably have been this one. Knowing this, the Strangers came to Earth sometime in the mid-20th century, seeking out any who could hear their telepathic voice to evacuate to another world. John Koestler's kids are central to why some still want the Knowing ending explained. ], "shito") is an ambiguous term that has various meanings within the Evangelion mythos depending on the context. Edit, Lucinda was driven crazy by the voices and surely understood what the numbers or whispering meant. The film then introduces Diana and Abby to complete the Koestler the family unit. In fact, in many UFO narratives that's why they're here, to help us along and save us from ourselves. The point the ending of this movie is trying to express is that the Angels in the Bible were merely altruistic aliens. After a number of rewrites, the script that eventually went to film was written by British screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine and Australian Alex Proyas (who also directed the movie). Meanwhile, its pseudo-survival plot is an allegory for grief, religion and the human condition with a nod to the 9/11 disaster. It can also be taken, however, to mean something else entirely. . TLDR: Apparently I just hate aliens. Though he takes a keen interest in the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres, Niall watches everything and anything, and his secret shame is consuming the many forgotten movies of questionable quality from the '90s and 00s. and possibly with the 50 years of advanced knowledge of the world ending, the human race could develop a way to prevent it. It met with mixed reviews, with praise for the acting performances, visual style and atmosphere, but criticism over some implausibilities and the ending. In the 20th century, Earth was nearing destruction. The beings, acting as extraterrestrial angels, are leading children to safety on interstellar arks. It could be one of those or it could be something totally different. The religious symbolism also lends itself to one more interpretation of the ending, though: that the film's aliens are actually angels. [24] Metacritic gave the film a score of 41% based on 27 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The greater irony is that the time capsule is Lucindas idea. Of all of the species known believed to inhabit to the Milky Way, the Arcturians are the most ancient and the wisest. Unfortunately the predictions were buried in the time capsule and not discovered until just weeks before the world ended, so the aliens were forced to implement plan B. 1 for the week and selling 773,000 DVD units for US$12.5 million in revenue. If the success of the Alien and Predator franchises proves anything, it's that surviving in space would likely be pretty difficult. Indeed, in her bedroom, John finds a wall covered of newspaper's snippets about a lot of disasters related to the numbers. Typically they are the most human-looking aliens, looking like tall, white men. Nic Cage, old-time religion and a boldly subversive ending but what makes sci-fi disaster film Knowing a cinema masterpiece? But in recent times with alien imagery being so common in science fiction movies and TV shows, it's no surprise that the idea of aliens is part of our collective unconsciousness as a society now. The comfort of faith comes at the cost of submission to a sometimes unknowable wisdom. . [16], Proyas used a Red One 4K digital camera. There's obviously a deeper meaning to it all. Rabbits, god-damn rabbits. M.I.T. Sometimes theres no comfort or meaning in it. Aren't children too young to take care of themselves? Father-son relationships are hugely important in sci-fi, with Star Wars' Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker relationship the most famous of all, but there's also something remarkably biblical in John embracing his father (who happens to be a reverend, no less). 2 Kings 6: Elisha and the army of angels. Well before the film neared its by turns dismal and ditzy conclusion, I found myself knowingyet hardly able to believewhat was about to happen. Given the number of alien contact movies in the past few decades, it is more likely that angels visiting Earth would be greeted as aliens than that aliens visiting Earth would be greeted as angels. Koestler plays it at two points in the film. As Diana and Abby prepare to take refuge in nearby caves, John goes to the school and finds the door on which Lucinda engraved the final numbers and identifies them as coordinates of a place where he believes they may find salvation from the solar flare.

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