Knowing "Knowing" Trivia Quiz

Answer: A time capsule

Lucinda Embry-Wayland was probably the most influential character within the film, despite only being shown within the first 10 minutes of it.

Her prophecies, hidden in meaning within what looked like nonsensical strings of numbers, were all shown to be accurate. She even told her daughter the date she would die, which rested heavily on her mind.

She received the information for her prophecies from the 'whispering men', who were aliens from an unknown location. It is likely that these voices were what led her to overdose on drugs, eventually leading to her death. Alternatively, the knowledge of the impending doom for humanity might just have been too much for her...

Answer: Determinism

Determinism argues that there is a chain of causal events; one which leads to another, and, given enough knowledge, the precise prediction of how people, the Earth, and the universe would change over time could be made. In terms of humanity; any action we might take could be pre-destined, according to this theory, as if one could exactly predict the actions a human will take given certain conditions, one's life could be temporally and spatially mapped out.

This concept is wrestled with several times in the film; John initially did not believe in the supernatural, or in 'fate' and 'destiny'. However, learning of Lucinda's prophecies from 50 years ago and finding them to be accurate, his views began to change. Although having the knowledge that the world was to end, and that he could not do anything to stop it, he was able to make peace with his family; notably his father who was a pastor, who was not initially on good terms with him, perhaps due to his beliefs.

Answer: The number of people who died.

John noticed the correlation between date and total fatalities mirroring real events quite quickly, providing the spark which set the story into full motion.

There were three events that were yet to happen, according to the prophecy, and John, whilst skeptical at first, had first hand experience with one of these events, which prompted him to see if anything could be done to stop the others from occurring.

However, when showing the prophecy to Phil Beckman, a colleague at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was met with the same skepticism he himself would have had, had anyone else come to the conclusions he did. Until very near the end of humanity, very few people would believe in him or the prophecy.

Answer: A plane crashed where his car was.

John investigated the blockade, only to be told a generic platitude; and that he should just go and wait. Shortly after this moment, a plane descended from the grey skies, landing right where his car was parked and crashing with a volatile explosion.

The scene was bleak. Amongst the rain and achromatic landscape lay the remains of the plane. Whilst John attempted to look for survivors and help, all he could do was wander through the smoldering rubble, helpless and lost. This was most likely the point at which his beliefs were truly challenged - because the event was not just numbers on a piece of paper... it was real.

Answer: Diana

Diana was the daughter of Lucinda. She also had a daughter of her own, Abby, who, like Caleb, heard the aliens whispering into their minds and talking to them.

Diana, however, preferred not to think about Lucinda, her prophecies, and what transpired in the past. Initially, she would not tell John anything about her, but, fearing for her daughter, she began to help John, mainly by taking him to Lucinda's old house, which she left untouched due to the bad memories left behind.

She remained in denial about the seriousness of the encroaching threat to the world, choosing to drive with Caleb and Abby to try and reach safety, despite the fact John was very close to solving the last piece of the puzzle. At a gas station, the aliens took over her car, thus taking the children. When she hijacked someone else's car and gave chase, she crashed, ending her life, although it would have ended soon in any case, due to the approaching heatwave.

Answer: A rising tidal wave

The picture depicts a man kneeling, looking to the sky with an arm outstretched. A man, probably God, was shown sitting cross-legged in front of the sun, and, within the clouds between God and the kneeling man was an arm holding out a scroll - which may have been the power of prophecy that Lucinda possessed.

Elsewhere in the picture lay a wheel, a distant city and four winged creatures. The wheel was shown in the film as the go-between device for the alien spaceship and Earth, and was what Caleb and Abby used to leave Earth.

The four winged creatures referred to the aliens. In one scene they were shown standing in a row. Some may have thought of them as angels, as, when they ascended from Earth, they glowed white, with wings.

The distant city had a slight glow to it, which might have implied that it was burning, although, this fact cannot be assured.

Answer: You and me together forever

John also gave Caleb a locket with a picture of the both of them and Caleb's mother, Allison, who died in an apartment fire. Within the film, John and Caleb were shown to have a very close relationship, and neither John nor Caleb seemed to have many other friends, so must have emotionally relied on each other a lot, although this was not shown entirely convincingly within the film, as tender moments were few and far between.

In the end, the aliens would not allow John to board their ship, as they only wanted the children. Despite the uncertainty of what would come to be for him, John let Caleb go with the aliens along with Abby and two rabbits, knowing that it might have been his only chance at survival. However, this farewell left John virtually bereft of hope for his own future.

Answer: Black stones

The black stones were curious objects. One was given to Caleb by the aliens quite early in the story, and they were also found in numerous other locations within the film; Lucinda had quite a large stash of them, and Diana was found holding one as she died.

Because the black stones were in high quantity around where the alien spaceship landed, some might surmise that the black stones were merely indicators that the aliens were present. Alternatively, they might have been signs of bad luck, suggesting that misfortune was soon to approach, even if it were not for the person holding the stone.

Answer: Beethoven

Whilst 'Knowing' used ambient music and sound effects to set the mood and scene well, there were very few songs used in the movie.

However, Beethoven's "Symphony Number 7, Alegretto, 2nd movement" was played twice within the film. It was first played just before John gave his one and only lecture (busy job!) and the second time was whilst John made his way to see his parents and enjoy his last few moments with them.

The song conveyed an appropriately wistful atmosphere and fitted the montage of city-goers rushing around in a panic, despite the futility of doing so, quite well.

The song also featured in many other movies, notably 'The King's Speech' (2010).

Answer: A prominent tree

The children were dropped off in a luscious field with bubbles blowing through the air, and they both ran towards a large tree in the distance. Because the scene was shown right after the heatwave, the inference was that the children were dropped off on a different planet and not a reformed Earth, although this isn't certifiable either way. This was the final scene of the movie.

What message the producers intended to display here was uncertain. Here are some potential theories to think about:

1) Caleb and Abby are the new Adam and Eve, and the tree symbolises the 'Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil' depicted in the Bible. The aliens are angels doing the bidding of God. However, what makes this theory less likely is that there were multiple spaceships seen in the background; since they all departed at once when the children landed, the inference is that they all had something to deposit, and within the context of the garden of Eden story, it would be hard to see what that could be.

2) The story is a Noah's Ark allegory; everything is purged except for two of each animal. Caleb and Abby are the two humans that survive, and, since two rabbits are taken with Caleb and Abby, a little more weight is added to this theory. The other alien spaceships seen in the background might also have brought lifeforms from Earth, or possibly even elsewhere, to coexist on a new planet.

3) The aliens were actually the progenitors of mankind. The angels in Biblical references are simply representations of these aliens. For whatever reason, they wanted to start afresh with humanity, and so they placed the human children on a new planet to see what would come of it. It is possible that aliens may also have 'experimented' with Earth in a similar manner, planting basic life forms and seeing what they would become in time.