Run Lola Run: Free Will vs. Determinism Argument #1

Both the ideas of Free Will and Determinism are present within the film. While some may be a bit more subtle than others, here is an example of a scene that I’ve extracted and chose to focus on.

 In the beginning of the movie, when Manni is panicked on the phone by having lost $100,000 on the subway to pay back his boss, he decides to rob a local grocery to revive the money.

Manni: “So find 100,000 in 20 minutes… [and meet me] At 12:00 by the water tower around the corner or he will kill me. Nobody escapes Ronnie. He’ll rub me out, and all that’s left of me will be 100,000 ashes.”
[——— ]
Lola: "Stay put in the booth, I’ll come over to you as soon as possible, I’ll figure out a way to raise 100000 by noon”
Manni: “I’m going to rob the bank right here and right now… Or no, I’ll rob the grocery store instead..."

This is a perfect example that argues both for the Free Will and Determinism argument. A a libertarianism could claim how Manni has the "free will” to rob the local grocery store because he CHOOSES to do so based on his principles. You could say that it was Manni's idea that came to his own mind, which was a result of a non-physical event. Although robbing a store is illegal, we (or in this case, Manni) can technically rob a bank if we wanted to. However, this scenario can also create the debate that Manni didn’t have free will, but rather, it was determined that he did so. A determinist could argue that Manni robbed the store because he HAD to, in order to revive the money, otherwise he would’ve been “killed” by his boss if he hadn’t. Here, we see that his actions for robbing the grocery were determined, and based on a past event. The fact that he only has 20 minutes to get 100,000 and will be killed if he doesn’t pay it back (as he hopes avoid being killed and seek survival), is another agent that creates a motive for his actions.




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