KNOWING

Australia/US, 2009, 121 minutes, Colour.
Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Ben Mendelssohn.
Directed by Alex Proyas.

Knowing is something of a sign of contradiction with some fans and critics really enthusing and others giving up on it completely. The more philosophical aspects of the plot seem to cause the most hostility with some Americans likening its 'message' to fundamentalist Christianity or to Scientology. It would seem that bits of dialogue and some of the images with biblical background have spooked many commentators into denunciations.

The production company is called 'Ezekiel Productions' so the makers obviously have an eye on biblical references. Ezekiel was the prophet who was asked to eat the scroll of the word of God after seeing images of what he called 'something like the glory of God' (chariot wheels and symbolic animals) which is there in the art work that the elderly Lucinda, the girl with mysterious powers, contemplated. And, the latter chapters of Ezekiel, with battles at Megiddo, are a source for Armageddon images.

With the father of John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) being a minister, there are themes of religion, prayer, questioning of God's will because of deaths and disasters. Much as this reviewer likes to unearth religious references in films, I would be hesitant to attribute too much Christianity to the writers and director. The images of the Judaeo-Christian? tradition have entered the public domain and are available as metaphors for every artist, religious or non-religious.

Actually, it would seem to me that movie traditions and references have more impact and meaning than the religious in Knowing. It is definitely a movie for science fiction and fantasy fans and they will be lining up all the references, connections, homages and borrowings. This line of interpretation seems much more relevant than too much 'Left Behind Apocalyptic' theology – yes, there is apocalypse, there are overtones of revelation, there is an afterlife perspective (though limited to the galaxies rather than heaven). Looking at some comments on the IMDb (as one does!), we find questions of why the strangers are either gay or Aryan Nazi in appearance! (Why not just say that they are reminiscent of The Matrix?) Many writers seem to be creating a Knowing Cabbalah.

So, the film itself. In 1959, a class group buries a time capsule to be opened in the dim distant future (2009!!). Ageism!! An envelope with a page of numbers is among the contents and it is handed to schoolboy, Caleb (Chandler Canterbury – who appeared as a young Benjamin Button). His father John is a scientist at MIT and, as with anyone who has watched Numbers, there is a code to be found. The 9/11/2001 does the trick. Disasters. And the worst is due in a few days.

The plot moves reasonably quickly and audiences are caught up in John's desperate attempts to stop the disasters – but he finishes up witnessing them. And we witness them, an extraordinary special effects plane crash and its aftermath and an even more frightening runaway train ploughing into a station in the New York subway. These are most impressively and alarmingly filmed as are other sequences like deer fleeing from a burning forest.

The other aspect of the plot is the finding of the daughter of the girl who wrote the numbers. John and Caleb track her down only to be introduced into a world of whisperers from another planet who communicate information to the two children. What will happen? Will the world end? And, in biblical language, who will be saved?

The fans, especially if they liked director Alex Proyas' other films, Dark City, The Crow and I Robot, will be ticking off Deep Impact (which the plot does more than resemble), Armageddon, The Matrix, Close Encounters and The Day the Earth Stood Still (which the plot also does more than resemble).

Which means that Knowing is firmly in the dark science fiction tradition of the world under threat from nature (this time a less than veiled image of climate change) plus some transcendent elements which, especially in the final images of hope and of disaster, have some biblical evocation (rather than propaganda).

Most of the film, after second unit work in New York and Massachussets, was made in Melbourne and includes Australian actors like Rose Byrne, Ben Mendelssohn and Alan Hopgood in central roles.


1. Science fiction, apocalypse, the end of the world? Fiction? Science fiction? Signs, numbers, mystical implications? Death? Survival?

2. The title, the little girl writing the numbers, John’s son? The warnings, the signs, seeking the references, the images of the disasters? The musical score?

3. Massachussets, filmed in Melbourne? Science, technology, the experts, their experiments, documentation? Data varying? Movement of the sun, calculations? The plausibility of the scientific background?

4. The details of ordinary life, schools, homes, the roads, diners, gas stations, the woods and the houses?

5. Attitudes of fundamentalist religious beliefs? Scientology perspectives?

6. 1959, the schools, the project, the spirit of the fifties? The time capsule, the nature of the entries, the little girl and her obsessive writing of numbers? Burying the capsule? 50 years seeming a long time - but not for oldies!

7. 2009, the school assembly, the classes, the teacher and the student response? John’s son and his presence? The anniversary, the ceremony, opening the capsule, giving out of remnants to the children? The boy and his getting the page of numbers, his reaction, John reading it and reacting?

8. Checking the numbers, the dates, the research, the Internet, the dates, places, accidents, the number of dead? His colleague and discussing the issues? The scepticism?

9. The visuals of the accidents, the reports, John and his driving and experiencing the plane crash, trying to help, saving people? The drama and impact of the crash and the subway?

10. The colleague, his friendship, presenting the voice of reason, scepticism? The later evidence and his change of mind?

11. John, the death of his wife, love for his son, discipline at home? Tracking down the daughter of the girl writing the numbers? The house, seeing her in a supermarket, the coffee, the children’s friends, asking about her grandmother, the clash?

12. The mother, the truth, her grandmother, her fears, talking with John?

13. The realization that disaster was soon to happen? The plans, to leave? The mother taking the two children, the bond?

14. The strangers in the woods, their appearance, the children following them, sinister or not, hearing the messages?

15. John, realizing that he should stay? His going, pursuit of the mother and children?

16. The mother, in the car, leaving, the gas station, the phone call, the impending disasters?

17. The house in the woods, the mysteries, the strangers taking the children?

18. People dying, the television coverage and ceasing, the sun, destruction of the world?

19. The children, being taken to a new world, a new Adam and eve, the garden? Hope?

20. The plausibility of the plot? The emotional effect of the apocalypse? Of the saving of the children?