Where do you belong? What if one decision changed your life forever? What if you discovered everything you thought you understood about society was a lie, and to ultimately turn things around for good, you would have to face everything you ever feared?
The movie Divergent will make you look at your life’s choices in a whole new light. Face your fears and choose wisely to change the world.
This futuristic thriller untangles an intricate plot of what ultimately is the result of mankind trying to solve the mess of original sin on their own. Through it all, a love story is intertwined along with learning to face fears and overcome adversity as a large part of the battle.
The name of the movie alone might leave you feeling like it’s shrouded in mystery simply because you’ve never heard the word (or at least not since high school math class!). “Divergent” is defined as: “Differing from each other or from a standard.” Or “Relating to or being an infinite sequence that does not have a limit or an infinite series whose partial sums do not have a limit.”
In other words, if you are different, your future is wide open to do amazing things and change the world as it is currently known. That is, if you manage to stay alive.
Though intense, this is a message of hope to all, young and old. For parents, it means that, that challenging child you’re struggling with just might have more potential than it appears.
If you enjoy adventure movies like “The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box”, you’re likely to appreciate this movie as well.
The premise of the movie is that society has become divided into five separate factions. Each faction is dedicated to cultivating a certain, specific standard:
- Candor – Honesty
- Abnegation – Selflessness
- Dauntless – Bravery
- Amity – Peace
- Erudite – Intelligence
Living in post-apocalyptic Chicago, Beatrice Prior, who later changes her name to Tris, finds herself caught up in a mystifying futuristic plot to try to get rid of her because she fits into not one, but three factions, classifying her as “Divergent.” In this society, Divergents are not allowed to live.
Tris is born into the Abnegation faction. However, when children reach the age of 16, they are given a test. This test reveals which trait children are best suited for. For those whose tests reveal they’re best suited for a faction other than the one in which they were born comes a choice: they can stay with their families or switch to the faction the test results claims they are best suited for. Once they decide, there is no going back on the decision. If you choose to switch, you leave behind family.
Choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. —Joshua 24:15
Tris makes her decision and outwits a deviant scheme and takes down the entire system, but not without a roller coaster of emotions and a love story backed by pursuits of courage triumphing over fear, played out in 139 minutes on screen.
The movie features:
- Shailene Woodley – Beatrice “Tris” Prior
- Theo James – Tobias “Four” Eaton
- Ansel Elgort – Caleb Prior
- Ray Stevenson – Marcus Eaton
- Kate Winslet – Jeanine Matthews
- Zoe Kravitz – Christina
- Tony Golddwyn – Andrew Prior
- Ashley Judd – Natalie Prior
Divergent opened in theaters on March 21, 2014, released on Summit Entertainment Lionsgate and is based on a novel trilogy written by Veronica Roth. While the author of the books is Christian, the Divergent story is not blatantly religious. Though, there are certainly plenty of undertones of Christian teaching along with mentions of symbols of Christianity. For instance, in a pivotal stage of danger, the lead character thinks back to her baptism when her mother dedicated her to God. Also, on another main character’s wall are the words, “Fear God Alone.”
What Do You Think?
Divergent is a great launching pad to create positive conversation about values and fears with your tween or teen. If you had to join a faction, which one would you excel at joining? How will you use the movie for at-home discussion?