An Essay on "Frequencies." A movie directed by Darren Paul Fisher.

“Knowledge determines destiny,” the phrase that surrounds the concepts and ideals set in writer-director Darren Fishers Orwellian love story, “Frequencies.” Formally called “The OXV Manuel,” this story is set in a world where each individual gives off a certain frequency that determines his or hers “luck” or probability of success in life. Those who give off a low frequency are more susceptible to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as well as having extreme amounts of empathy and feeling. However those with high frequencies, operate much as a machine would, lacking emotion and valuing logic and reason over the ability to feel. The story’s two main characters, Zak and Marie, are the polar opposites and poster children for each extreme end of the frequency spectrum. Zak is a low frequency boy love stricken by the high frequency and emotionless girl, Marie.  When around each other for more than a minute, nature responds to their difference in frequency by exhibiting forms of chaos, thus rendering them, incompatible. Grief ridden Zak dedicates his life to finding a way to be with Marie. Consulting the help from his center frequency aligned friend Theodore, Zak finds various temporary solutions to stretch the one minute time barrier for he and Maries encounters. In short, Zak and Theodore create a device that is able to read the frequency of any given person and convert the data into what they found temporarily balanced two peoples frequencies, words. Two syllable, often meaningless words that can bring two frequencies to equality. This gives Marie the chance to feel for the first time, and the two subsequently fall in love. However, this invention or solution does not come without a side effect. Coming in groups of three, the given words generated by the device hold the ability to also control a person’s actions. This puts the love between Zak and Marie in question, as well as the entire future of humanity.

“Frequencies,” is a movie that pushes us to examine the themes of individualism and social acceptance in our everyday lives. Wherein the movie never explains why the world is the way it is, what the outcome of World War Two was, or what form of government is in power at the time. The movie does give us hints. For instance, there is little to no presence of any other race other than white Caucasian and the government appears to be a subversive form of totalitarianism. With the existence of a “Ministry of Partnership” and a social caste system based off of people’s frequencies, the world seems similar to the dystopian environments found in novels by Philip K Dick or most notably, George Orwell.  The social norm according to Fisher’s script is one based entirely on luck. A high frequency individual will likely never wait for a train, knock over a glass, or fall randomly ill, and upon discovering any threat to this social standard, the government steps in to subdue it. As best seen when Zak discovers the ability to balance frequencies. However, once the side effect of motion control surfaces, the government appears to favor keeping society the way it is rather than utilizing it for their own benefit. In many ways, this entire ideal mirrors aspects of today’s society. Our way of life is defined by how much money we have, how many friends we have, our accomplishments and failures, and our ability to succeed in life. Rather than having one defining notion (frequency), we have a plethora of ideals to be subjected to. Herein lays the main difference between our world and the world of Darren Fisher’s “Frequencies.” Nonetheless, today we still see the push for defining the soul, free will, and the cause and effects we have towards nature.

After learning of the side effect to Zak’s solution to human frequency, Marie begins to feel as if Zak used the generated words to direct her free will and selfishly make her fall in love with him. In an attempt to alter and set true what was believed to be false, Marie forces Zak to say a generated word then command her not to love him. He reluctantly complies, however there is no apparent change with Marie’s emotions towards him. In search of deeper answers and discovering music’s link to human frequency, Zak reaches out to Theodore’s father whom is a talented pianist and music enthusiast.  He explains to Zak that when music is played, it instantly equalizes people’s frequency. The vibrations of multiple sound waves disrupt the frequencies allowing everyone to exist on an equal plane. He goes on to explain that music is the ‘reset button’ for our way of life. Theodore later manages to uncover a pattern with music itself and finds a way to predict when certain events will occur.

Upon reading articles from the New York Times as well as the website, Film School Rejects.com, I have found that the ending of the movie can be open for interpretation, where it appears that Theodore has mastered some form of control over the physical world, perhaps even time itself.  Theodore’s apparent discovery, Zak and Marie’s love, and the effect of music towards frequency all seem to contradict or support aspects of the argument of free will. Were Marie and Zak destined to be together? Are we all just complex machines with no purpose? Is the world merely a canvas that anyone can manipulate? These are all very real questions we ask in today’s world. With the use of science and religion often being at the center of debate, we as a race are in constant search for the ability to define that which makes us human.

In conclusion, the film “Frequencies,” is a very raw and rather unique take on addressing questions we ask each day. It shows us a world where things are far more controlled and masked. Yet argues that love can transcend any bound or obstacle, it shows us that free will is possible, and that spontaneity provides the color to an otherwise mechanical world. Proving that free will does in fact exist, yet the movie reverts on this and conveys a last minute notion of doubt. The very dreadful thought that maybe we are all just 0s and 1s in a world based solely off patterns and defined sequence. The final message I received from viewing this intellectually rich film, was to analyze my own humanity, my own way of life and draw a conclusion. That which I have done and can never be happier with the “data” I myself have collected.   

watch the trailer, here.