The Rapture
Added 11/8/2009
Mimi Rogers always says in interviews that this is her favorite film. I remember wathcing it years ago and being blown away by the ending. The ending still has the same impact twenty years later.
Worth watching
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A Thought Provoking Masterpiece
Added 11/2/2009
_____Note* This Review contains spoilers
Michael Tolkin's 1991 effort, The Rapture, tells the story of Sharon (Mimi Rogers) a vastly promiscuous woman who is bored with life and her very dull job, a telephone operator. She becomes unhappy, tries to commit suicide and then finds god. From here on out she taken through a journey of faith. She has a child, a lovely little girl, marries a man and things seem to be going great. Then (Note, spoilers are to follow) in a vigorous shooting, her husband is murdered. And yet still she remains calm as if nothing happened, it's all part of "God's plan"
She then starts to receive visions of the desert and so she thinks God is calling her and her little girl, and from here on out she has to question her faith as she wonders if he will ever come. I wont spoil the rest of the film for you, but Tolken's ending is one of the most powerful I have ever seen in any film.
Now, you can look at this film from many aspects, one of the many geniuses of the script and director. It can be seen as a woman who spirals into madness, in fact for those of you, who have seen it, the ending may be nothing but one big descent into the mind and it may be a hallucination. Or one can see it literally and this is a movie about `The Rapture' regardless, you get the sense of an oncoming doom from the start, the film is fresh yet amazingly bizarre. Mimi Rogers gives a stunning performance and although the special effects are nothing to write home about, the film's atmosphere is. The script is tied together oddly; infact it almost feels as if one is watching three different films. The beginning is Sharon the sex addict, the middle is Sharon in love with her `God' and the ending is Sharon's hate for `God' and the viewer is painted a disturbing picture of how one woman turns from faith and love to anger and hate.
And yet, is Tolken's `The Rapture' a film about faith? Is it defending the bible, calling us to love our lord, and if not are we doomed to endure the harshest punishment of all and have to suffer the wrath from the man above? Or is it about choice? Do we have to believe? Do we have to love something that simply may not be there? What's wrong? What's right? What is faith? Does the divine being have a plan for us? And the ultimate question, is there a God at all? Or is this all about how one can go insane?
Whatever you take away from the film, it is sure to leave you haunted and pondering what you believe for a long time. The Rapture remains one of my personal favorite films, as well as one of the most underrated of all time. An amazing film that deserves a watch.
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A PRETTY FAIR DEPICTION OF A PARTICULAR FORM OF CHRISTIANITY
Added 10/27/2009
I caught this film recently on the SyFy Channel. I thought it gave a fair representation of a particular "Christian" eschatology, namely the 19th & 20th century phenomena of the "born again believer" and their obsession, over everything else Christian, on "The Rapture." Mimi Rogers, as Sharon, gives a fine performance as an obsessed pleasure feeling sex addict who comes to see the emptiness of her life. Sharon works at a dead end job as an 411 operator. While cruising with her friend Vic, played by Patrick Bauchau, ever on the prowl for swingers at airport lounges, she meets a couple, the woman who has a strange tattoo on her back, of The Pearl. Obviously a reference to the parable of Jesus and the story of the "Pearl of Great Price." One day while eavesdropping on her Christian co-workers she hears them speaking of "The Pearl." She is visited by two fundamentalists who leave her a copy of the New Testament. She converts a former sex partner, Randy, played by David Duchovny. There is also a prophet, a young boy, who I think is her bosses' son who predicts the near end of the world. Well things go swimmingly for Sharon and Randy. They have a daughter and all is good in the world. But, for how long? Not very long. Randy, is murdered by a disgruntled former employee at his place of business. Sharon gets a vision to go to the desert with the daughter to await the Rapture. Well, they are befriended by a local sheriff, but are on the verge of starvation. Sharon kills her daughter to send her to heaven faster, and obvious reference to Abraham and Issac or Dylan's Highway 61. Anyway, I will not ruin the ending. I liked the movie, because despite its faults it gives a fair portrayal of belief built on feeling, which is what drove Sharon all along, whether sinner or saint. And this analogy can be used for religion, politics, really anything in life. For an independent film, not too bad. Why it was shown on the SyFy Channel is beyond me, it more properly belongs on the Trinity Network, though I doubt the pretty descriptive sex scenes in the beginning of the film would pass muster.
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Frightening
Added 9/14/2009
Gives a good idea of what happens to a person who is lost, searching for meaning and stubles into the religious room, with no doors left to open.
Good acting, some startling scenes.
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Apocalypse then...
Added 9/4/2009
I was really surprised at the level of involvement I had with this film. On the surface, a movie about a bored hedonist who has a religious conversion and goes into the desert to await the coming of the Lord doesn't sound like something that would appeal. Yet the performances - particularly Mimi Rogers (as Sharon) - make it worthwhile.
It is slow-paced but not overly so. (I watched it with my daughter who was bored to tears- but hey it isn't an action movie.)
A film about religion (well faith) is something that doesn't exactly make it to the Multi-plexes very often but the subject matter it raises is worth exploring.
In the end I was extremely moved by Sharon's plight and the denoument, when it came, was devastating even though I had been expecting it.
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