Kosher Movies: Run Lola Run

What role does fate play in the trajectory of your life? Do you consciously make choices that influence your future? In my many years of teaching Literature, the novels of Thomas Hardy come to mind when I think about characters whose life is determined by fate, not destiny.

Fate plays an important role in the tragic novels of Thomas Hardy. People have few choices in a universe that is determined by chance. My favorite Thomas Hardy novel is Tess of the Durbervilles.Tess is the female protagonist who endures lots of suffering in her life not because she committed a crime or sinned deliberately, but because she was unable to make choices that might have changed her destiny.

Chance, mishap and accident are Hardy’s typical fictional devices. Often encounters between characters in his narratives occur accidentally, but they have lasting consequences. To Hardy, the world is incoherent. Leading a life based on chance essentially means that man has little or no control over what happens to him.

Hardy claimed that chance is neither sinister nor good. It is an indifferent force of the universe. He depicted a chance-filled world in which men and women become its tragic victims. This is the narrative arc of much of Run Lola Run.

Run Lola Run has a lot to do with the consequences of leading a life based on fate, on blind chance. It is a stark reminder of the difference between fate and destiny in real time. Let me explain.

Lola’s boyfriend Manny has a job as a runner for a mobster and inadvertently leaves a bag full of his employer’s money, 1000 marks, on a subway train. In a state of panic, he calls Lola and informs her that unless he can come up with the money in the next twenty minutes, he will rob a nearby grocery store to get it. The alternative: his employer will kill him. Lola runs to her father’s bank to see if he can help her. At this juncture, the film shows three possible scenarios in which Lola attempts to get the money, the outcomes of which are not all felicitous.

Each scenario depicts a series of “what ifs” suggesting that fate determines much of what happens in our lives. Lola does not make choices. Things happen and Lola simply reacts.

In contrast is Judaism, which maintains that we have an ability to choose our direction in life, to actually influence our destiny by making decisions in the present. These decisions should reflect our values, observes Rabbi Daniel Cohen, author of What will They Say About You When You’re Gone. Moreover, he adds, “We can make meaningful and courageous choices when we recognize that seemingly trivial decisions constitute the essence of who we are.”

Rabbi Cohen writes: “One of the core principles of leading a life of deep fulfillment and endurance is our ability to make courageous choices in every moment. Do we choose based on convenience or conviction, principle or pressure? We’re making hundreds of meaningful choices every day. These small decisions require reservoirs of strength, faith, and clarity.”

Fate is grounded in the notion of unpredictability. A life determined by fate is devoid of meaning. A life determinded by values, however, leaves a legacy of honesty, authenticity, and fellowship with all men. Believing in the ability of people to make consequntial choices means that we can change our destiny.

Every moment we’re given two paths to follow and we’re challenged with a chance to either elevate our lives and the world around us or not. A choice not taken is also a choice. One choice can alter a person’s  destiny. Rabbi Cohen comments: “No action is private. Every choice reflects our past and determines our future.”

Lola has no conception of this; for her, everything is determined by chance. Watching her try to solve Manny’s dilemma is fascinating, but her efforts are haphazard, and do not always lead to success. The implied message of Run Lola Run is that unless we make choices based on our values, life is one random event. We may be lucky and things will turn out well, or we may find ourselves without a rudder on the sea of life.

Judaism encourages us to make conscious, value-laden choices whenever we find ourselves at a crossroads in life. Then we can make good decisions that, as the poet Robert Frost said, can make “all the difference.”