The Man Who Saw Tomorrow

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow is a 1981 documentary-style movie about the predictions of French astrologer and physician Michel de Notredame (Nostradamus). The Man Who Saw Tomorrow is presented (one might say "hosted") and narrated by Orson Welles. The film depicts many of Nostradamus' predictions as evidence of Nostradamus' predicting ability, though as with other works, nothing is offered which conclusively proves his accuracy. The last quarter of the film discusses Nostradamus' supposed prediction for the then future of the 1980s, 1990s and beyond. There are no scientifically testable predictions directly included in this film, only suggestions and allusions. Welles' view Welles, though he agreed to host the film, was not a believer in the subject matter presented. Welles' main objection to the generally accepted translations of Nostradamus' quatrains (so called because Nostradamus organized all his works into a series of four lined prose, which were then collected into "centuries", or groups of 100 such works) relates in part to the translation efforts. While many skilled linguists have worked on the problem of translating the works of Nostradamus, all have struggled with the format the author used.