Films with an Ambition to Understand Fate in Human Relationships

Before I Fall (2017)

What would we do differently if we knew that going to school or work meant seeing our loved ones for the last time? Would we change our behaviour if we knew that even ignoring someone could affect their fate? How would we live today if we knew it was our last day?

The plot with a time loop recalls the famous 1993 film "Groundhog Day" (US), in which news reporter Phil relives his most despised day over and over - 2 February, when he must participate in a meaningless tradition in a small town of waking a groundhog from winter hibernation. The alarm sounds and 2 February begins again, over and over, until the main character reviews his values and changes his attitude toward those around him.

In the film "Before I Fall" a young woman relives 12 February several times, tries to change decisions and influence events, but nothing helps. The way out of the time loop is the same - understand and accept other people, appreciate relationships and how the smallest interaction affects each person's further fate. Finally she lives her ideal day, which is not devoted to herself but to the people around her. Even to people encountered by chance. Fatalists would say there are no coincidences.

The finale is not as rosy as in "Groundhog Day." You can change only yourself, not others. You can save others, but not yourself. If you fall, there will not always be someone to catch you. That is the harshness of fate.

The Ottoman Lieutenant (2017)

A US-Turkish co-production film about a relationship during the First World War. People of two cultures and two warring sides meet - an Ottoman army lieutenant and an American nurse. What could they have in common? The rational mind and rules dictate a path of least resistance and a life that might have a positive outcome - a harmonious family, shared work that both love and share ideals about, professional challenges, children, a home.

The nurse Lily listens to her own nature and entrusts herself fully to fate, which draws her into a passionate relationship with the Turkish lieutenant. But fate is called fate precisely because a happy end is not part of the plan.

The Secret Scripture (2016)

The film's plot is built around the memories and notes of Rose, who has been in a psychiatric hospital for more than fifty years, recorded in an unusual diary - notes and drawings on the pages of a Bible. A story that begins in Ireland during the Second World War. A love triangle between an Irish Catholic priest, a British Protestant soldier and Rose, an attractive young woman who draws the attention of the village's men.

The viewer can observe how fate plays out, events bring people closer, and they name this closeness love and cling to it until the last hour of their lives. Meanwhile a mind darkened by jealousy can inflict indescribable suffering even on the person it loves and desires. Moreover, both suffer - the one torn apart by jealousy as well as the object of desire.

The human Ego is immeasurable - it can slander, betray, destroy, belittle; what matters is preserving one's own greatness and the moral position accepted by society. Is that a person's choice, or social pressure? Perhaps society's norms and religious precepts are merely an excuse for one's own cowardice?

The Light Between Oceans (2016)

The action takes place on the western coast of Australia, where a man who has returned from the war applies for work as a lighthouse keeper on an island. It is as if an attempt to flee from the losses he has experienced. Isolating himself and not letting anyone too close may perhaps protect him from further pain of the soul. But fate has something else in mind.

He is destined to meet a fine woman and marry her, yet God is not favourable to them in the matter of children. Their newborns die. Then, by chance, waves wash a boat to the island's shore - with a dead man and a crying infant inside. The couple accepts the child as their own. Years of happy family idyll pass, but the lighthouse keeper is tormented by conscience. The torment grows when he accidentally learns that the infant's real mother is still searching for her child and her longing is unbearable.

The lighthouse keeper reveals the truth. They are accused and imprisoned. A great trial for the relationship, mutual grievances, heartbreak, a separated family. One cannot help but ask - is every truth good? Must all secrets be revealed? What is conscience - is it truly the messenger of good and purity within people?