Bruce Almighty

The assignment was to watch a movie over the weekend and choose some questions to answer about the movie in an effort to write a pseudo-review about the movie. I chose to watch Bruce Almighty because I figured it could have some interesting themes and produce some good answers to the questions.

Bruce Almighty is about a man who thinks that God is out to get him. Seemingly everything in his life is falling apart and he feels as though God is picking on him. And then one day God meets with Bruce and gives him all of His power. He does not become God; he just gets all of God's powers. Bruce proceeds to use God's powers to "fix" his life (aka....get everything he ever wanted).

question #1: What does it (the movie) say about God and humanity?

Well Bruce Almighty is an interesting movie because where some movies don't ever mention God the main plot line is full of God. God (Morgan Freeman) is portrayed as an omnipotent, personal, caring character. Every aspect that they give to Him is Biblically accurate, however; they did not tell the whole story of who the person of God is. Never do they mention God's wrath or judgment against sin, and never does God condemn Bruce and his girlfriend, Grace for living together. And never in the movie is man's fallen nature discussed and therefore his need of a savior. It more leans toward man being incapable of doing God's job, which is true, but due to the fact that we are finite and simply put, not God.

question #2: Does it convey a sense of hope or hopelessness?

Well at one point God tells Bruce to "be the miracle". So I would say that it definitely gives a sense of hope because in addition to that it shows that when we surrender to God and His plan for our lives, He does what is best for us. That's not only when we surrender to Him, but all the time God does what is best for us, even if we don't agree with Him. We may not like it and think that God is being mean, but in reality it is exactly what we need. And if you ask Him, God will change your desires to match His.

question #3: What does it say about how to treat others?

Well, Bruce Almighty kind of does a flip flop in the middle of the movie. At first when he is granted God's power he only uses them for his enjoyment and to get things for himself no matter the cost to others. He makes a co-worker lose his job so that Bruce can have it. He uses his power to get revenge on a gang that had beaten him up earlier in the movie. He changes his car into a super sweet sports car (that I wouldn't mind having myself by the way). But being "God" Bruce also has the responsibility of answering people's prayers. At first he just wants to get through them, so he can go on enjoying his powers. However, his plan of just saying yes to every prayer backfires and the city goes nuts. At that point God tells Bruce that the answer isn't always "yes" and shows him that he has to give people what is best for them even if it means saying no. Bruce then turns into a nice guy, giving his co-worker back his job and things like that.

question #4: How is the family portrayed?

Well, considering that Bruce lives with his girlfriend, Grace, I would say my impression is that the family does not matter. However, as the movie goes on, Grace's sister keeps telling her how wonderful marriage and motherhood is, and it's obvious that Grace wants what her sister has. When Grace dumps Bruce because a different co-worker (a female this time) was coming on to Bruce, Bruce finally snaps and gives up trying to fix his life and asks God to do it for him. At the end of the movie Grace anounced as the future Mrs. Bruce. One other thing I'd like to mention though about love is that in one scene after Grace has dumped Bruce and he's given in to God, God asks Bruce if he wants Grace back. Bruce thinks about it and then says something remarkable. He says, "No. I want her to meet someone who is right for her and will love her because he sees her as I see her now, through Your eyes." It turns out that Bruce is "the one", but just that statement is remarkable, and I think that that is what love is all about.

question #5 What character traits are promoted as positive or negative?

Bruce is told by God that he has "the divine spark", the ability to make others laugh. At the beggining of the movie Bruce is chasing the anchor job at his news studio because he's tired of doing the dirty work out on the location. But at the end of the movie he is back to being on location and using his gift to make people laugh. He also tries to help a homeless man and ends up getting pounded by street gang, but that was because he couldn't keep his mouth closed. Praying is surprisingly shown in a positive light as Grace is cast as a devoted praying woman. Selfishness is shown to be not what you should do because it only gets you messed up.But when you get over yourself and try to help others wonderful things happen. And when you surrender to God and tell Him, "I can't run my life on my own" good things also happen.

So over all, I thought it was a pretty good movie. There was quite a bit of crude content, so it is not for children, but for adults it can be quite the teachable moment for yourself.