The Rapture
by Michael Tolkin
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Darwyn Carson, David Duchovny, Marvin Elkins, Mimi Rogers, Patrick BauchauDirector: Michael Tolkin
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-02
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: New Line Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Rapture
Movie Review: "Who forgives God?"
Summary: 5 Stars
As previous comments show, this unique film evokes intense responses from its viewers, both positive & negative. And with the increasing presence of fundamentalism on the national & world stage, the questions it poses become ever more pressing & pertinent. Interestingly, both believers & non-believers fall on both the positive & negative sides here!
The basic story is common enough today: Sharon (a superb, risk-taking Mimi Rogers) works at an unfulfilling job & leads an unfulfilling personal life of empty group sex. She's desperate for meaning, purpose, structure -- drifting through a desolate modern landscape that offers neither sanctuary or salavation to the lost & achingly lonely soul.
And then she begins to dream of The Pearl, as some of her born-again co-workers discuss some mysterious boy prophet among themselves ... and she finds her purpose & meaning in a devout, unquestioning acceptance of the fundamentalist Jesus. The End Times are coming soon, and the faithful must prepare for it. She does so by marrying & converting erstwhile sex partner David Duchovny, and having a lovely little girl with him. It's the life she'd been seeking all those years.
And then random -- or is it? -- tragedy strikes, leaving her a widow. She seemingly copes with this tremendous loss through her faith, yet questions are nagging at her unconscious. She decides that God is calling her & her daughter to the desert, as a trial & purification of sorts, to await the Rapture.
I won't give away any more of the story, except to say that writer-director Michael Tolkin follows the idea of fundamentalism to a logical, chilling conclusion. And he poses some wrenching questions -- while the idea of a Godless, meaningless Universe is terrifying & unbearable for many, he suggests that a universe of fundamentalist meaning where God does exist may be even more terrifying, if you insist on personal autonomy & satisfactory answers over submission to an infinite but strangely narrow love. Or can it truly be called love, on the terms offered?
The final choice in this film has led to a good deal of discussion. Not wanting to spoil it, I'll only say that Sharon seems to make that choice out of anger & defiance, not pride & guilt. Her choice reminds me very much of the conclusion to Camus' classic essay, "The Myth of Sisyphus." It's definitely an existential choice, and I think an honorable one. But you'll make your own decision on that.
Yes, the production values aren't big budget. That's actually an advantage, as spectacular CGI would only get in the way of the story & its ideas. It's worth the loss of special effects dollars to maintain the integrity of Tolkin's vision, like it or loathe it. I guarantee that you won't be unmoved as the final credits roll. A thought-provoking work, most highly recommended!
Summary of The Rapture
A Los Angeles telephone operator who tires of mate-swapping and turns to a religious sect for spiritual guidance.Running Time: 100 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DRAMA UPC:?794043490828Once upon a time, in the 1980s and early 1990s, American independent movies did not seek to merely ape Hollywood formulas. They were more than just feature-length resumes for shrewd, enterprising filmmakers who had nothing to say, but dreamed of saying it with a big-studio budget. Back then, independent films provided a different kind of movie experience; they challenged and provoked audiences--and none more so than 1991's The Rapture, written and directed by Michael Tolkin, the man who wrote the screenplay for The Player, Robert Altman's scathing anti-Hollywood comedy. Mimi Rogers plays Sharon, a lost soul who gives up her hedonistic life of sex and drugs when she finds God and becomes a fundamentalist Christian fanatic. Her pilgrim's progress, presented in a deadpan, nonjudgmental style, culminates quite literally in the title event--the Second Coming, the Apocalypse, the end of the world, or whatever you want to call it. Rogers's fearless performance becomes all the more provocative when you recall that the actress is a lifelong member of the Church of Scientology. The Rapture is a mind-boggling, wildly ambitious movie that's open to myriad interpretations. But no matter what you make of it, it's sure to leave you engaged and shaken. --Jim Emerson
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