The Rapture
by Michael Tolkin
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Duchovny, Mimi Rogers, Patrick Bauchau, Will PattonDirector: Michael Tolkin
Brand: NEW Line Home Video
Writer: Michael Tolkin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-02
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: N4908
Studio: New Line Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Rapture
Movie Review: Sex, God, And the End Of The World--A Challenging, Uncompromising Study Of Faith That Will Defy Your Expectations
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Rapture" is a film that I have treasured for many years, and yet it has failed to become well-known. I was dragging people to see this film in the theater and have introduced dozens of others to the video and DVD versions. Released in 1991, "The Rapture" is a bold and uncompromising picture--one that deserves to be recognized as a classic. Rarely will you see a film tackle the subject of religion so fearlessly, so relentlessly, and so literally. I suppose that's why some people have stayed away. Religion is not a very fashionable topic. Some people stay away for fear of being preached to, while many religious supporters get offended if the film is anything less than pious. Now, you will see many one star reviews claiming this to be Anti-Christian heresy--but I have many Christian friends who have embraced this film as an intelligent and powerful study of faith and commitment.
"The Rapture" starts out with Mimi Rogers living a life of emptiness and boredom. By day, she's a telephone operator and by night she fills her time with promiscuous sexual adventures. In a gritty and brave depiction, this is a lurid world, to be sure--but all she has to "connect" with others. Seeking more, seeking better--she enters into a decidedly spiritual world. Relinquishing her past, she embarks on a monogamous relationship with David Duchovney and attempts to fill the void in her life by spreading the word. She becomes a woman transformed by the church. When an unexpected tragedy strikes, she now has faith to console her. Her support group, led by a prophet, believe in the Second Coming. With supreme and unerring devotion, Rogers embraces a religious fervor and offers herself and her daughter up to God. Her faith borders on a mania, but she never wavers.
The challenging film never backs down from here on out. God, of course, does not respond as she might have envisioned which results in yet another tragedy. Rogers has gone from an empty vessel to a devout churchgoer to a state of dementia--and now faces her biggest challenge yet. The END OF THE WORLD is here. With horsemen, trumpets and other attendant signs of the Apocalypse--Rogers faces the ultimate decision. Will she embrace the God again who she feels has betrayed her commitment? In an ending unlike any other feature film I've ever seen, Rogers stays true to her character. This film lets no one off the hook--it's daring, audacious, and so ambitious.
Rogers has never been better. I've always felt this was her "Sophie's Choice." While perhaps not an actress with the greatest range, she really taps into something primal here. It's as brave and open as you're likely to see an actress--emotionally and physically. It should have been her Oscar nomination. But the secondary star is "The Rapture"'s screenplay. Powerful and thought-provoking, this is a rare and ultra-serious work for adults.
I don't pretend that everyone will love this movie. It definitely pushes buttons and provokes debate. But anyone who out-of-hand dismisses it, they are being unjust. I want films to challenge, move, and engage me. Far from bashing Christianity, "The Rapture" is a major work studying faith in the modern world. It may not always be a pretty picture, but it is a relevant one. An unqualified success, to me, at every level--I'm proud "The Rapture" was able to be made in an era when the least bit of controversy threatens to scuttle adult, intelligent filmmaking. KGHarris, 12/06.
Summary of The Rapture
A Los Angeles telephone operator who tires of mate-swapping and turns to a religious sect for spiritual guidance.Once 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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