Last night, I went with a friend of mine to see a movie called Push. Now if you’re planning on seeing this soon, you might want to wait until after you see it before you read this blog. I generally try to avoid giving spoilers out as much as I can, but sometimes it’s hard to help. If you keep going on past this point, you’ve been warned.
Push is set in modern times with the story being that some people with psychic powers were tested by the Nazis in an attempt to create a super army. The Nazis were defeated of course, but their plan was not as numerous countries set up government centers to do the same thing. In America, the center is called “Division.”
There are a number of kinds of gifted individuals. Watchers are people that have the ability to see the future. Movers have telekinetic powers. Pushers can implant thoughts into people’s minds that they will believe are true. Sniffers can tell where someone is by sniffing an item. Shades can keep other people from being detected by sniffers. Shifts can alter physical objects for a temporary time. There are others such as shriekers who can make deadly sound waves with a scream and one called a stitch who seems to be able to move bones.
The story involves a chase to track down one girl who is the first to survive an experimental drug that is supposed to up a psychic’s power. She’s a pusher. After she survives, she goes on the run and now Division is looking for her as well as the heroes of the story and another group with their own agenda which I won’t share.
An odd aspect is that Division has numerous people with powers working for them. This is a theme that happens throughout the movie. Why are psychics working for Division? You’re never really told. As I was pondering this, I was working on trying to figure out the worldview that the author or authors come from.
After pondering on it for a bit, I became convinced that I was watching a postmodern story. Of course, that’s kind of a contradiction. A postmodern is presenting a story and wanting it to be seen as a true story. How does that make sense in a postmodern universe? Of course, I figured that’s probably why much of what went on in the movie didn’t make sense.
One clue that leads me to this conclusion is that the watchers can often be wrong. For the story, the future is constantly changing and when something is done, there is a new future developed. It makes one wonder what good the gift is if what you’re seeing doesn’t stay the way it’s supposed to. What good does it do to have sight in a world where everything is in constant flux?
Also, the many powers all had to do with altering reality. With a shift, you cannot trust the substance of physical reality. A shade gives one like a sniff a false view of reality. Pushers are the ones I’d think the most dangerous as they alter what people believe to be true. How do you know you’re thinking something true instead of having the pushing of a push?
The whole message would seem to be then that you cannot really know reality. The shade is hiding what is really there. The watcher cannot tell you what they are watching. You cannot even trust your own thoughts as they could be thoughts that are implanted in you by another.
When you reach the end, you don’t have a lot of questions answered. In fact, you have more questions. Sometimes, that’s good. In a story though, that’s not often the case. The story should sum up many of the questions. It doesn’t. Instead, you wonder about pieces of the plot that didn’t fit which makes you reach the point where you consider “maybe they weren’t supposed to fit.”
As far as other matters go, they were okay, but frankly, I wasn’t too impressed sitting through this one and I can’t think of one really memorable scene. Of course, that makes sense if my analysis is correct and I’ve seen a postmodern film. That’s something about stories that do come from a more theistic perspective. Consider a story like Lord of the Rings or the Chronicles of Narnia. In those, you are engaged. I know some Christians might balk at this, but I’d consider the Harry Potter stories in the same light and I do believe they come from a Christian perspective.
My overall conclusion? Wait till the DVD in this case if you really must or go see a matinee. Of course, I got to spend time with my friend and I think get some looks into the postmodern culture, so I don’t consider that a waste. However, the action and sci-fi type genre has much better to offer.
Support Deeper Waters on Patreon!
