The Zero Theorem

Release Date: September 19, 2014 (limited)
Studio: Amplify
Director: Terry Gilliam
Screenwriter: Pat Rushin
Starring: Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw, Mélanie Thierry, David Thewlis, Lucas Hedges
Genre: Drama

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Directed by Terry Gilliam ("Brazil," "Twelve Monkeys," "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"), "The Zero Theorem" stars two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz ("Django Unchained," "Inglorious Basterds") as Qohen Leth, an eccentric and reclusive computer genius plagued with existential angst. Living in isolation in a burnt-out church, Qohen is obsessively working on a mysterious project personally delegated to him by Management (Matt Damon) aimed at discovering the meaning of life - or the lack thereof - once and for all. Increasingly disturbed by unwanted visits from people he doesn't fully trust, including the flirtatious Bainsley (Mélanie Thierry), Management’s wunderkind son Bob (Lucas Hedges), his unpredictable colleague Joby (David Thewlis), and would-be digital therapist Dr. Shrink-Rom (Tilda Swinton), it’s only when he experiences the power of love and desire that he’s able to understand his own reason for being.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKfSAycq_Jo

Another film for crazy people like 12 monkeys

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Originally Posted by article

an eccentric and reclusive computer genius plagued with existential angst. Living in isolation in a burnt-out church, Qohen is obsessively working on a mysterious project personally delegated to him by Management (Matt Damon) aimed at discovering the meaning of life - or the lack thereof - once and for all.

typically hollywood-like distortions/exaggerations:
- only strange/eccentric people search for or question 'the meaning of life' - whereas, it should be (and to an extent it is) on everybody's mind to do so
- these people have to be in a strange state of 'existential angst' (rebellion will do too) in order to start their search, otherwise they would live like any other earthling, happily without being plagued by such issues - whereas, curiosity or feeling attracted to the topic will do just fine
- such people cannot behave normally but have to be some kind of weirdos obsessed with their quest, tormented by their questions - whereas, one's life can be easily adjusted to involve such a search (like a hobby), it is a very rewarding experience to start getting some answers as well as searching itself, since the goal is very reassuring
- the 'burnt-out church' is a metaphor for 'failed religion' or 'death of religion', ie. this can be done only by abandoning/exterminating previous beliefs - whereas, this is only partially true: new understanding only puts the older stuff into proper context, not necessarily destroying it - also, religions supposedly have a similar topic of interest, thus their conclusions will be more or less similar to each other, simply due to 'looking at & describing the same thing'
- in order to start the search one has to be personally chosen by some government-type of organization, giving him 'the green light' to go - whereas, no permission is needed from anyone, in fact, its a natural interest/desire/longing, some would say even a necessity
- so these people are still not sure if there is any meaning of life, which is pretty ignorant, since everything in this world has some kind of a meaning and a reason for existence - perhaps only 'the primal cause' is something that can be called causeless (having no cause of its own existence, since it had no predecessor, thus being primal/original/the first)
- another idea presented here is to have topics as 'the meaning of life' officially researched and the conclusion forced onto the citizens as a kind of a governmental/scientific dogma, whereas this is an individual matter for everyone to search & find their own answer

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Originally Posted by article

it’s only when he experiences the power of love and desire that he’s able to understand his own reason for being.

cherry-picking, is it? love feels nice, so lets pick that one and everyone will cheer for doing so, forgetting about everything else thats left unaccounted for

so he only wanted/desired to be loved by someone (obviously, since the guy was reclusive in the first place) - notice that this is inadequate to explain 'the meaning of life', its simply a part of life that may be experienced - it would be equally silly to take another part of one's life, say, 'growing up' or 'watching the sunset' or 'riding a bicycle' or 'going to school' or 'having feelings' or whatever else and claim that one of these is someone's reason for being - now, if someone said that the meaning of life must be very closely connected to every single thing one does experience in life, this would be much closer to answering the original question

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Originally Posted by imdb

A computer hacker whose goal is to discover the reason for human existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the Management;

when hollywood goes in search of 'the reason for human existence', expect anything but a sound reason to come out of it, expect something like...the zero theorem, exemplifying aptly how their knowledge of such things tends to zero at all time(s observed)
but not all is lost, since their twisted take on 'the reason for human existence' may serve as fuel to increase the flame of interest in this subject, which may eventually become a fire that consumes any and every remainder of false notions surrounding the subject, purifying one's own understanding of it and thus one's own being in the process, removing the veils of ignorance as relevant knowledge of 'the self' is gained - the funny thing about it is that even obstacles like hollywood may in fact unknowingly aid in this process, ie. their lame attempts at obstruction/deception/Management/... may actually be doomed to fail regardless of what they try, how about that for a mindf*ck :P

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Originally Posted by Dragoon

Another film for crazy people like 12 monkeys

you mean 'by crazy people'?

btw. that '12 monkeys' movie was ridiculing christianity (possibly religion in general):
- 12 monkeys = 12 apostles
- their crazy leader, spreading the virus = jesus, spreading the teaching
- this leader is a son of a rich biochemical magnate, whose labs created the virus = god/the father/creator (depicted as wise/elite), jesus/the son (depicted as crazy), he put his son in the world/madhouse
- a few billion dead or something, infected by the virus = the total number of their followers worldwide, following the teaching
- the plan was hatched in a 'madhouse' = the world
- the plan actually came from the future, by accident, inspired the leader, caused this time loop or whatever = the teaching wasn't supposed to happen, got into the wrong hands, blame jesus, 'the father' is not to blame, a glitch in the time-space continuum or some other nonsense justifying the impossible time-travel part of the movie
- science of the future found the solution, has to decontaminate their subjects in fear of the virus = atheism/technocracy/communism as the solution, forceful medical/mental treatment to ensure proper attitude/behavior/health, the all-seeing-eye of big brother depicted as a moving/hovering globe with cameras/monitors attached onto it, inspecting subjects, the globe representing global surveillance too?
- the future is a dystopian world, but safe from the virus = accept slavery and cooperate (cooperating willis on a pedestal) or else you die from the virus/religion, gilliam as the hidden preacher of such a solution (gilliam is not your friend?)
- oh yeah, bruce willis drools a lot, whereas brad pitt overacts a lot, not to mention that gilliam goes 'mondo bizarro' as usual with his cinematic weirdness
- overall, the movie was not very well made in terms of entertainment, other than the mindf*ck plot and these hidden elements lurking from the convoluted plot