(See Revelation 1:20 .) Therefore, the gospel message on other worlds is alien to them and might begin, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Bioluminescent The solar flare is Knowings red herring twist, telegraphed throughout by subtle but insistent references to unseasonal heat. But there is, at least, one reasonably safe place to start: the Bible. M.I.T. ", "Tribulation 99. Human-like 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. These revelations come a little out of left field, but there are a handful of hints peppered throughout the movie that add context to Knowing's ending. Hebrews 13:2 Context. But this look is far from the actual version of angels described in the Bible. ClairvoyanceTelepathyShapeshiftingFlight The Strangers then kidnap Caleb and Abby with Diana chasing after them. In Matthew and Luke's gospel accounts, Zachariah, Mary, and Joseph all have encounters with angels. Children of Caleb and Abby's age could survive being separated from their parents, and they're young enough to give them plenty of time to rebuild and adjust to the destruction of Earth (which is, understandably, often a major sticking point for humans in sci-fi), essentially allowing for a smoother transition into their roles as the first of a new society. Why were only the children taken? . 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. 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. Moreover, it translates complex concepts into an action plot that, ultimately, is heartbreaking, immense, and almost operatically tragic. On the other hand, Darwinists will be gratified to see Gaia and her stellar opposite numbers sock it to an unconcerned mankind. Whether you love it or loathe it, Knowing does an awful lot with its 2-hour runtime. John discovers that Lucinda's numbers are dates, death tolls, and geographical coordinates of major disasters over the past fifty years (including the Oklahoma City bombing, the September 11 attacks, and Hurricane Katrina), and three have yet to happen. 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? They possess no discernable facial features, with their glow appearing to fade out by their lower legs, their feet rendered almost invisible. The aliens send a messenger ahead of doomsday; so does the Bible; As they return to their ship, the aliens transform into glowing, winged creatures - i.e., angels. At least, that's what they believe happened to them. On the Set of New York. Angel ([? 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 . Edit, Lucinda was driven crazy by the voices and surely understood what the numbers or whispering meant. Attack of the Clones: The Kaminoans are a hybrid of Space Angels and The Greys . Web. Angels are immortal and the Bible suggests that, as such, they have no need to procreate. If we abstract "Knowing" away from the realm of metaphor and view the story through a more literal lens, it reveals surprising similarities with the works of Erich von Dniken, the 20th-century Swiss writer famous for theorizing that ancient human religions were a result of contact with aliens. Mission to Mars: Unlike most Space Angels, the Martians of this film are depicted as tall, Grey-looking beings with a bright, orange skin and blue eyes. After closer examination from his father John Koestler, he discovers the future predicting nature of the paper. The Fallen Angels are called Sons of God at times in the Bible. I wanted to make the movie credible. The next day, Abby colors in the sun on the engraving, which gives John a revelation. | Review, Both dads struggle to be present for their children as a result, There are advance warnings and messages before the aliens arrive. Behind the Scenes But thats me.. The main emotional fuel for most of "Knowing" is paranoia: John and Diana know that something terrible is afoot, and the tension stems from their simultaneously desperate and reluctant pursuit of more information. At first thats Koestlers wife. The religious symbolism also lends itself to one more interpretation of the ending, though: that the film's aliens are actually angels. By Chris Murphy. It could be one of those or it could be something totally different. not. In the disaster movie genre, this is where the protagonist begins a quest to overcome the impossible. In the past people often reported being visited by angels, demons, monsters, ghosts, and old hags in the middle of the night. There is also a History Channel show called Ancient Aliens which goes in depth with this theory. All in all, "Knowing'"s ending can be taken to visualize the overarching Christian belief in the saving of an elected few by a higher power. For both John and Diana, the conspiracy is at once soothing and frightening. Most of the kids oblige with robots and rockets but one child Lucinda becomes obsessed with writing a creepy number code. Like her, he begins hearing ghostly whispers and sees strange men lurking around. 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). 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. Angels surround us all the time figuratively if not literally especially during the holidays. This isn't directly addressed by the film, but the rabbits are seen arriving safely on the alien planet with the children in Knowing's final moments. Its a heart-breaking choice, one the film stokes with the repetition of their promise to stay together forever. This is where the film also subverts what we expect of science fiction, which is broadly redemptive though through human perseverance rather than divine intervention. An ANGEL is "a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant, agent, or messenger of God, conventionally represented in human form with wings and a long robe." [Bing] An ALIEN is a foreigner. The Bible tells us, "Do not show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:2). [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. The alien strangers have come to save a select band of survivors: children (see also The Day the Earth Stood Still). In total, 1.4 million DVD units were sold in the United States for a US$21.1 million and US$25 million worldwide. [3], Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 34% critic rating based upon a sample of 184 critics with an average rating of 4.80/10. [5] The project was set up at Columbia Pictures. 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." The tree's fruit might give another ability to the person who eats it. Fr. Related: Nic Cages Dracula Can Outdo His Vampire Method Acting. They most certainly seemed to be leaving our galaxy rather than ascending to a literal depiction of Heaven. 6 Stephany Fay Cohen. The parallels between "Knowing" and the Old Testament's Book of Ezekiel are rather blatant (via Bible Hub): The book's first chapter speaks of "living creatures" with "the likeness of a man" that come to the prophet enclosed in "a wheel in the middle of a wheel" (via Bible Hub) exactly the shape of the aliens' space arks in "Knowing." Koestler plays it at two points in the film. Knowing was filmed in Docklands Studios Melbourne, Australia, using various locations to represent the film's Boston-area setting. As the aliens took children from multiple locations across the planet, it's likely that they took various species of animals, too, most likely to make sure that the children are able to grow up with a reliable source of food. Edit, The aliens are known as Nordics as seen in European UFO sightings. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 77568230. The movie had set itself up for an open-ended, intriguing, and possibly unsettling finish. Quote: In the Old Testament, Caleb and Joshua were among the Israelites who left Egypt for Canaan with Moses. If you're a Christian fundamentalist who believes that Armageddon is nigh, you'll have a family hug and wake up to be greeted by St Peter at the Pearly Gates. Finally, Koestler gives up Caleb to save the boys life. October 1, 2021. The beings, acting as extraterrestrial angels, are leading children to safety on interstellar arks. John is told he cannot go with them because he never heard the whispering, so he convinces Caleb to leave with Abby and two pet rabbits they found, and both are transported away by the beings. When it falls into Koestlers hands, the code unlocks the secrets of human tragedy and starts a countdown to destruction. Meanwhile, the ark, along with others, deposits Caleb and Abby in another world resembling an earthly paradise and departs. They're a little bit like angels. So,this wanky belief is not original,padre! Koestler is not, and is left behind. [23] The film had grossed US$80 million in the United States and Canada and US$107 million in other territories for a worldwide total of US$186.5 million, plus US$27.7 million with home video sales, against a production budget of US$50 million. Numbers 22: Balaam and his donkey encounter an angel in the road. April 9, 2012. Famous last words. [42], Ian O'Neill of Discovery News criticized the film's solar flare plot line, pointing out that the most powerful solar flares could never incinerate Earthly cities. However, it was shot in Australia, where director Proyas resides. They do not appear capable of verbal communication, although they possess some form of telepathic speech. What we see in the film is a fairly good rendering of Ezekiel's visionwhether one considers the vision to have been of angels or of aliens.It is also worth noting that the children's names are laden with biblical meaning. Both times, the music functions as an elegy. That repetition is as much as double cross as genre ambiguity and a clue that we should expect exactly the opposite. The 2009 sci-fi thriller ends with an unforgettable twist, but it leaves a few questions unanswered. 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. What happens when the battery from Caleb's hearing aid goes out. To sum it up, the theory suggests that many of the wonders of the world and biblical and tribal stories are based on true events. Saying "UFOs are angels" is like saying "UFOs are flying ghosts" or "UFO's are magic flying leprechauns". Bipedal If Knowing had kept the fate of the kids unknown it would have left questions in the right way. 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. Angels are everywhere. . Ryne Douglas Pearson. In the 20th century, Earth was nearing destruction. Strangers use large, rather unconventional spacecraft that somewhat resemble several dark wheels, all turning around glowing central orbs, with many spike or petal-like structures floating around the wheels, giving a loose resemblance to a biblically-accurate angel, described as wheels within wheels with many wings. The connection is clearly drawn for us with the picture of Ezekiel's Wheel in Lucinda's abandoned house. On-screen conversations about determinism and the afterlife are further clues about Koestlers fate; theyre also the films key themes. Created by Is it worth it? The Bible indicates that angels were created at the same time the earth was formed, even before human life was created. and possibly with the 50 years of advanced knowledge of the world ending, the human race could develop a way to prevent it. Caleb is one of the chosen ones. Whether you read "Knowing" as a movie about angels mistaken for aliens or aliens mistaken for angels, one thing is for sure: The movie gets, and incorporates, much of the existential appeal of . 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 current b'ak'tun "cycle", the 13th, ends on the 21st of December, 2012. So why is the ending such a headscratcher? So while angels are technically extraterrestrials in that they do not come from Earth, they are not EBEs, or aliens in the traditional sense of the word. The group's job was to "detect, analyse and catalogue . UFOs & Aliens. The Strangers are a mysterious alienrace of hyper advanced beings that sought to save certain Humans from Earth's impending destruction. But aside from the personal experience of bereavement, Knowing also touches on collective grief. Once in space, they appear capable of going at, near, or possibly above lightspeed, denoted by bright flashes of light visible to observers on a planet. As most commonly used in the show and elsewhere, the word "Angel" refers to any of Adam's fifteen children, whom NERV must systematically destroy over the course of the story. If this is a genre clue about how things will end, there are far more blatant signs. "[26] In the San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Hartlaub called the film "an excitement for fans of Proyas" and "a surprisingly messy effort". In fact, in many UFO narratives that's why they're here, to help us along and save us from ourselves. His son Caleb goes to Lucindas school. Get to know the people first and figure out what they believe and why. 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. She also understood that something really bad would occur on October 19th, but the reason why she wasn't saved is left unanswered. Its destiny. In the occult Saturn Is the dark sun and prison planet" of the fallen angels CERN . The whisper people do seem to resemble angels to an extent, however much of what is seen doesn't fit any conventional depictions. The films big tension is between science and religion: While Caleb believes his mum died and went to heaven, Koestler doesnt. During the search, Caleb and Abby, who were left asleep in the car, have an encounter with the beings who are the source of the whispers. The Archangel Gabriel, painted 1431-1433 by by Fra Angelico. 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. After some initial disbelief, Diana goes with John to Lucinda's childhood home, where they find a copy of Matthus Merian's engraving of Ezekiel's "chariot vision", in which a great sun is represented. Adam itself, the designated "First Angel", is occasionally included with its offspring when . The 1974 UFO Crash in Coyame, Mexico. Generally, angels are depicted as beautiful, pale-skinned humans with wings, wearing white robes, carrying a harp, and sporting a halo. So visually arresting are the images that watching a deconstructing airliner or subway train becomes more mesmerising than horrifying."[29]. While Caleb tries to bring his mum back through videos and talking about her, Koestler shuts down. 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). Koestler and Caleb are struggling with bereavement. 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. However it is based on the interesting possibilities presented in the "Ancient Astronaut Theory" also known as the Ancient Alien Theory. Knowing (stylized as KNOW1NG) is a 2009 American science fiction thriller film directed and co-produced by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. [43], Erin McCarthy of Popular Mechanics calls attention to the film's confusion of numerology, the occult's study of how numbers like dates of birth influence human affairs, with the ability of science to describe the world mathematically to make predictions about things like weather or create technology like cell phones. 2009's Knowing movie had an unforgettable ending, and here are the answers to some of its biggest questions. 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. Edit, The black stones came from the place where the ship was stationed; you can see them clearly as the ship takes off. Maltusian 6. Stranger spacecraft fly without any discernable engines, likely utilizing some sort of reactionless drive. Alien Species is a FANDOM Books Community. 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. The Strangers took Caleb and Abby to the hidden shelter near Lucinda's home with John witnessing as the Strangers shift from their human forms into their true form and take Caleb and Abby into their ship which, along with various other Stranger ships housing human children, took them to a distant planet to continue humanity's existence. General Information Knowing draws on a lot of biblical inspiration, most notably in its handling of the idea of prophecy and the apocalypse. The UFOs are angels, but they're driven by actual aliens. But the narrative corner into which this movie paints itself is a simultaneously brilliant and exciting one. The "morning stars" are angels, whereas "the sons of God" are the leaders of other worlds. 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. 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