Sep 08 2007
Bruce Almighty - More Power Than You’ll Ever Need
I have never liked Jim Carrey as an actor much, most of the movies he stars in tend to be a bit silly in my view.
But “Bruce Almighty” is different, I enjoyed it.
The script is very clever : Bruce Nolan is desperate and complains to God that he is not doing a good job because everything is going wrong in what he perceives to be his mediocre life in small town Buffalo/New York.
So God now gives him all his super-powers for a while - can Bruce do better than God himself?
Morgan Freeman as God - in an immaculate white suit - calmly goes on vacation now, while Bruce goes overboard to get everything he ever wanted on earth for himself. His main ambition as a TV reporter is to become the news anchor on his network, although one of his colleagues is first in line for that.
You can imagine all the havoc Jim Carrey as Bruce creates in the process - not only in town with his new Ferrari, but also in far away places like Japan when he ropes in the moon for his girlfriend Grace (Jennifer Aniston) who desperately wants to marry him.
The film is very entertaining, and many of us would probably overlook the messages it has for us. One of them is that even divine strength ends where human free will sets in : Bruce arranges the most outlandish situations for himself to look good professionally, but alienates everyone else in the process – he still doesn’t know that selfish behaviour without any consideration for others will eventually come back and haunt you.
Treat others like you want to be treated yourself. Why? Because the world you experience is a mirror-image of who you are inside, your attitudes and behaviour. This is one of the Universal Laws of Human Nature that can not be broken or ignored.
Nevertheless, Bruce becomes famous as a newsman who is always first on the scene of dramatic action - but he cannot cope with literally millions of prayers addressed to God every day.
He finally surrenders to divine will and voluntarily hands back the guidance for his life to a higher authority.
At that point it dawns on him that he never really needed the extra powers granted to him : like you and me, he had all the qualities and talents required to make his life successful to begin with, but wasn’t aware of it.
All it took was some respect and service for, not power over his fellow man. ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ - Lord Acton wrote that in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887 and he has never been proven wrong yet.
The receiving process starts with giving - service without concern for your own gain is the key to your happiness.
Bruce has a unique talent to entertain and when he eventually settles back into his old job with humility and begins to share his appreciation for others in the local community, he wins more influence than he ever had and is transformed into a successful human being.
His genuine concern for the wellbeing of others makes him a better reporter, and we’re left in no doubt that he now earns a bright future by first mastering what he is confronted with here and now.
There is no such thing as a mediocre life in Small Town, we all have something important to contribute wherever we are - just know it, do it and be yourself.
