“Mr. Nobody” is not a recent release, it is actually a movie from 2009, but a friend mentioned it recently and I finally found the time to watch it over the weekend. I really liked it and felt like to write about it here as it relates to the topic of free will and choice.
A young boy stands on a station platform. The train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? An infinity of possibilities rise from this decision. As long as he doesn’t choose, anything is possible. Every life deserves to be lived.
Written and directed by Jaco Van Dormael, stars Jared Leto, Sarah Polley and Diane Kruger.
Mr. Nobody is a whimsical engaging movie about Choice, destiny, freewill, arrow of time, entropy, butterfly effect, existence, meaning of life, knowledge, and most importantly power of love.
Rather long, over 2 hours, but great to watch.
Mr. Nobody: When we are not born yet, we know everything, everything that would happen. … When it’s your turn, the angels of oblivion place a finger on your mouth (shush..) It leaves a mark on your upper lip. It means that you’ve forgotten everything. … But the angles missed me!
…
Journalist: All those lives, which one is the right one?
Mr. Nobody: Each of those lives is the right one. And the right path, is the right path. Everything could’ve been anything else, and it would have just as much meaning.
J: Is there life after death?
N: How could you be so sure you even exist? You don’t exist, neither do I. We only live in the imagination of a 9 year old child. We are imagined by a 9 year old child faced with an impossible choice.
…
In chess, it’s called Zugzwang… when the only viable move…is not to move.
… (as the world is disintegrating) The child is taking it apart. He doesn’t need it any more. Before he was unable to make a choice because he didn’t know what would happen. Now that he knows what would happen, he is unable to make a choice.
