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Stranger than fictionIs your life a comedy or a tragedy? STRANGER THAN FICTION Harold Crick (played by Will Ferrell) is a taxman leading a humdrum, numbers-obsessed existence. One day, while following his usual strict routines, Harold hears a woman's voice narrating his every thought, word and movement. Across the city, Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) is struggling to complete her latest novel. All she needs to figure out is how to kill off her main character, Harold Crick. Little does Karen know that Harold is alive and well in the real world and suddenly aware of her every word. How will Harold cope with the realisation that he may have no control over his own destiny? This knowingly clever comedy raises big questions about who controls your life and the effect of your actions. Emma Thompson's character is not God but she seems to have a sovereign role in Harold's life. Harold struggles to come to terms with the fact that he's no longer in control of his life. And, like many people when they face the possibility that they may not be in charge, he fights to maintain control of his life. Just like many of us fight to wrestle control of our lives from God, refusing to believe that anyone should shape the direction of our lives but ourselves. Little did he knowWhen Harold is crossing the road one day, his narrator suddenly muses, ‘Little did Harold know that events had been set in motion that would lead to his imminent death’. This obviously puts a bit of a crimp on Harold's day. He seeks out literature professor Jules Hibbert (Dustin Hoffman) who tries to ascertain whether or not Harold's life is a comedy or a tragedy, and thus whether or not he really will be killed off by the author. All the time, questions of mortality and the purpose of existence are being raised. In a recent interview, Dustin Hoffman himself confessed that a day doesn't go by in which he doesn't think about death. Questions of art and humanity also rear their heads as Harold has to decide whether to accept his fate so that the novel is a masterpiece or to fight for a happier ending. Is art really worth dying for? Who is in control of your life? Is your life a comedy or a tragedy or something else? And will Harold have a happy ending? I'll let you discover the answer to that last question for yourself... Martin Cole© Evangelicals Now - December 2006 |