The Chosen

Rating: 8/10 (21 July 2009)

In 1959, in Lexington, Massachusetts, the students of the William Dawes Elementary leaves drawing in a time capsule to be open fifty years later. However, the outcast girl Lucinda (Lara Robinson) writes a series of numbers instead. Fifty years later, the capsule is open and the boy Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury) receives her letter. When his widower father and professor of MIT John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) glances to the piece of paper with numbers, he recognizes dates and coordinates of the major global disasters in the last fifty years. Further he identifies that the numbers are the key to everything and together with the last date, it is written "EE" – meaning Everyone Else.
The refreshing "Knowing" is one of the best (if not the best) movie about apocalypse that I have seen. I am a fan of Nicolas Cage, and the intriguing and human story is very well constructed and disclosed in an adequate pace and supported by good performances. The unexpected conclusion is both pessimist and optimistic, depending on the point of view of the viewer. In the end, we all will die, won't we? My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Presságio" ("Omen")