Seite - 65 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 06/01

sure us that we have a decisive influence on this outcome and that it is not a future set in stone: “For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings […] then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever” (Jeremiah 7:5, 7). Man in the Bible exists within time; at any moment they may be tested to see whether they succeed or fail in fulfilling the will of God,23 and the actions of humankind in the present, according to the Bible, will affect the un- known future. This view contains no element of deterministic fate, for there is the possibility of influencing the future through present behavior. In the ancient world, the future is determined by necessity and fate, and humankind has no sway over it whatsoever. The idea that our actions in the present day can affect the future, first presented in the Bible, was revolutionary in the ancient world. The film, while proposing a different, more complex conception of time, remains basically faithful to the biblical notion that actions taken in the present have an effect on the future. The Mission and the “Chosen” One At the beginning of the film, when Professor Brand is trying to convince Cooper to accept the commission and embark on a risky journey with an unknown outcome in an attempt to save humanity, the professor tells Cooper: “Something sent you here. They chose you” (00:30:58). Cooper therefore presents the mission to his family as something he must accept. That kind of commitment requires devotion and faith, and only at the end of the film do we understand that Cooper was chosen to help the one truly “chosen” to save humanity – his daughter, Murph (02:29:50) (see fig. 5). “They” chose her when she was still a child, just as the prophet Jeremiah was chosen before he was even born: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). In talking to TARS, Cooper realizes that “they” have access to time but that “they” need him in order to find the exact right moment in time to transfer the information TARS collected from the black hole. When asked by TARS how he could get the message across, Cooper replies: “Love, TARS […] it’s the key” (02:30:30). Just like her father, Murph too has faith and love. She believes her father will come back to save humanity, which is what allows her to receive the message (02:32:15). She carefully writes down the movements of the watch hand (02:32:32), translates the Morse code and finally yells “Eureka!” (02:33:05). Once the solution is found “they” start to collapse the tesseract, a struc- ture created specifically for Cooper. 23 Rauch 1978, 10–11. 64 | Bina Nir www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 53–69