Film Comment: Over and Over Again, With Variations

     Hinduism and Buddhism are the major religions which believe in reincarnation, the belief that one returns to a new human (usually human) life after death.  In the new life, one advances or regresses in their spiritual evolution based on their actions in their prior life.  Eventually everyone becomes so spiritually advanced that they return to their true self, God, and are not reborn on Earth.  In essence, everyone gets a second, third, ... three-thousandth, ... four millionth chance to get it right.

     Numerous films and television episodes have grabbed onto this idea over the years. Here are a few:

1961: "Shadow Play," The Twillight Zone (television series).  A man is found guilty of murder and sentenced to the electric chair.  He insists to everyone around him that it's all a nightmare; that he'll be back in court after his execution, with all the same people present but playing different roles.

1992: "Cause and Effect," Star Trek: The Next Generation (television series). The Enterprise becomes caught in a repeating time loop which always results in the destruction of the ship.  Luckily, one of the crew is an android who can think outside the loop.  He realizes what is going on and takes steps to stop it.

1993: Groundhog Day.  This funny Bill Murray film has a totally bored weatherman reliving the same day over and over, with him making slight changes in his actions each day in an effort to finally get things right and escape the loop.

1993: 12:01.  At one minute after noon, a man repeatedly tries to prevent the murder of a woman.

1998: Dark City. A man with no memories realizes that the same night is being repeated over and over again with changes each time.

1998: Run, Lola, Run.  This is a love it or hate it film; a mixture of cartoon and live action footage.  Lola has twenty minutes to come up with 100,000 deutsche marks to give to her boyfriend so he won't be forced to rob a supermarket, so ... she runs, and runs, and runs.  Several different possible outcomes are presented by the film. 

2004: The Butterfly Effect. A man finds that he can return to earlier events in his life.  Each time he tries to make changes in events, unexpected twists make things worse than before.

2006: The Deaths of Ian Stone. Ian is brutally murdered each day, only to wake up in a new life and be murdered again.  He meets the same people, always in different roles, in each life.  This continues until one day one of the recurring people lets him in on the secret.

2006: The Butterfly Effect 2.  Largely a rehash of the earlier film.

     This idea of repetition of events until one "gets it right" makes for good stories, but is not compatible with a Christian understanding of reality.  It is clear that the Bible teaches that we have this one life and are responsible for what we do with this one life.  

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Hebrews 9:27