自由意志和預感

believe or not: It's God in control all the time, for critical moments. 宗教主題[編輯]

一些評論家認為亞伯拉罕的神學含義，如全能的和無所不知的上帝[18] [19]自由意志和預感的概念[20] [21]和從下降到黑社會的元素 到Eurydice和Orpheus的故事）。[22] 此外，據說主席代表神，[23]而他的個案工作者是天使。[24] [25] 電影導演喬治·諾爾菲（George Nolfi）說，“這部電影的意圖是提出問題。”[26]

 

Religious themes[edit]

Some reviewers identified Abrahamic theological implications, such as an omnipotent and omniscient God,^[18][19] the concepts of free will and predestination,^[20][21] and elements from the descent to the underworld (a mytheme dating back at least to the story of Eurydice and Orpheus).^[22] Moreover, it has been said that the Chairman represents God,^[23] while his caseworkers are angels.^[24][25] The director of the film, George Nolfi, stated that the "intention of this film is to raise questions."^[26]

Original ending[edit]

According to Nolfi there was an alternate ending, later revealed as featuring actress Shohreh Aghdashloo as the Chairman:^[15][16]

[I]nitially I was going to show the Chairman. The Chairman was going to be in female form, too. Ultimately, while making the movie, I realized how important it was going to be for people to put their own beliefs in the end and not foreclose that. I don’t think the scene would have foreclosed peoples' [sic] beliefs, but the more I could hint at it and the less explicit I could be about it, it wasn’t enough to hint about it in the dialog and have an actual person there acting it. I just had to not show the Chairman, so I ended up not going that way.

In her 2013 memoir, Aghdashloo said Nolfi gave her a different explanation. He blamed Universal Pictures for the change to the ending:^[16][17]

I loved that role. As actors, we all know we're at the mercy of the editing table, but not to this extent, never had I experienced it. The director, George Nolfi, decided I should play God. Everything went great until I got a call from the director who was asking to have lunch with me. He was on the verge of crying. He said, the distribution company believes that you cannot play this role.