Divergent: Don't Underestimate the Power of the Human Spirit

It is always exciting to see a movie based on a beloved book.  I know there are those who claim the movie is never as good.  To you I say this......get over it.  Movies and books are completely different for a reason and I encourage you to try to appreciate both interpretations.  In the case of Divergent, I must say it aligned very well, even though I wouldn't have cared if it didn't.

Divergent is set in a futuristic Chicago post world war.  Humans as we predicted, pretty much destroyed most of the world due to greed, lying, selfishness, etc.  So some decided that in order to maintain the human species without repeating previous mistakes, a certain order should be maintained. That is where Factions come in. Factions are communities that contain certain traits such as intelligence, survival, honesty, compassion, etc.  Beatrice was born into Abnegation which is the selfless faction. This faction does not condone vanity and only means to serve others. However, when teenagers are of age, they take a test that determines if they should stay with their faction or belong somewhere else.  They may choose other than what the test decides, but typically the test is the deciding factor.  Beatrice and her brother both surprise their parents when they choose two completely different factions than their upbringing.  Her brother's test determined his placement, but Beatrice found out her results were inconclusive which implies people can actually belong to more than one faction....this is called Divergent and is very rare.....and dangerous.

Beatrice chooses the faction she relates to the most which is Dauntless.  This is a complete opposite of what she has always known.  For this faction is about defending and survival of the fittest.  Soon, all the initiates discover they will not all be Dauntless.  The bottom percentage who cannot cut it will be deemed Factionless and thrown to the streets.  This terrifies our soft spoken leading lady as she is at the bottom percentile from the beginning.  But Beatrice (whom is now referred to as Tris) proves herself as she rises above her fellow initiates.  Tris' placement seems to be just right as her friendships grow as well as her bond with a certain handsome Dauntless leader.  Unfortunately this all comes to an end when her secret Divergent status is in question.

As Tris continues to succeed and passes tests that should take much longer than she is to complete them, she has more eyes on her than she'd like.  Four, her knight in shining armor and leader of the initiates, notices as well and shares his secret of being Divergent as well.  Together they soon discover just how deadly their Divergence is.  You see, those in control are not fond of people who cannot conform.  In fact, being Divergent means you have independent thought and contain various components to the different factions.  This is hard to control and therefore feared.  What do we do with what he fear?  Try our best to destroy it, which is exactly the plan.  Tris and Four must survive an impossible situation when all who are not Divergent are out under a trans in which Divergent humans are easier to identify.  In the end lives will be lost and Tris and Four will admit just how much they mean to one another, but will it be enough to save them?

The overall themes of not categorizing someone into one group, not conforming, having independent thought and using it in the right way, as well as facing one's fears are prevalent throughout this dark yet engaging film.  I also have to be honest, seeing this feeble young girl grow into a kick ass heroine warms my heart.  That along with the awesome music and epic scenery make a great movie.  You will have to overlook a few cheesy lines that will only be cheesy to those who have not read the book.  But it is a great movie that the book lovers and movie goers will enjoy.