Film review by Kevin Patterson
The Rapture (R, 1991) Directed and written by Michael Tolkin. Starring Mimi Rogers, David Duchovny.
Few films can be said to be as bold and unwavering as Michael Tolkin's The Rapture. Not only does it deal with issues of religion and spirituality that are usually ignored by popular culture, but it takes its story to extremes rarely seen outside of films such as, say, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. It asks questions many of us would rather not think about: What if the doomsday cults have got it right? What if the end really is coming? And what does this mean for our eternal souls?
Tolkin explores these issues through the story of Sharon (Mimi Rogers), a woman stuck with an arduously boring job as a telemarketer. Desperate for some sort of novelty in her life, she turns to wild group sex at night, and when she recognizes it as empty and unrewarding, she turns to alcohol. Confused and nearly suicidal, she takes an interest in members of a cult-like fundamentalist Christian religion who answer to a child "prophet" and have been sharing a vision of a shining pearl as an indication that Armageddon (hence "The Rapture") is soon to come. When Sharon herself has this vision, she joins the group, eventually convincing her lover Randy (David Duchovny) to convert as well. Later, after Randy is killed by one of his disgruntled employees, she has a vision of him summoning her to a remote desert location where she and her daughter are to wait for the Rapture.
Had Tolkin stopped there, the film would have been an interesting story with some mild insight into opposite extremes of society, but then he takes it even further. Sharon does not lose her faith, but she begins to feel, after another tragedy, that God is asking too much. She still believes, but the belief is not enough; it begins to seem as unrewarding as her previous life. In a captivating sequence, the Rapture comes as promised, but Sharon is so depressed and bitter that she now stands in defiance of God.
Obviously any film that deals with such riveting subject matter and goes so far as to have the "crazies" be right all along is so provocative that it is easy to overlook its flaws, and there are a few. One is that Tolkin treats the characters mostly as devices to explore these themes. Sharon's initial conversion, for example, is presented rather matter-of-factly; one minute she is going about her usual decadence and hopelessness, the next minute she is kicking her lover out of bed and declaring herself "clean."
Furthermore, the fact that Tolkin refuses to hold the viewer's hand, taking his film to overwhelming extremes without missing a step, ultimately becomes a bit of a problem because it is not quite clear by the end what he is trying to say. If he is simply satirizing fundamentalism and trying to show how a blind, thoughtless faith might not provide any better spiritual guidance than self-abandonment and empty pleasure, then he succeeds. If he is trying to set Sharon up as an anti-religion heroine, then he doesn't quite pull it off. The tone of harsh realism leaves it up for debate whether or not the real "error" is God expecting too much or Sharon misinterpreting what God wants, and in any case the film's theology is far too simplistic to represent religion in all its forms and variations. On the other hand, perhaps Tolkin does not intend to push any particular message; perhaps he is simply asking the "big questions" and leaving them for his audience to answer.
As a religious person myself, I of course find it difficult to be objective in evaluating this film since it touches on some pretty sensitive subjects. I can say this, however: The Rapture put images and ideas in my head which I will not soon forget. If you have ever thought about issues of faith and spirituality, this film at the very least brings into focus some of the questions you have probably always had. If you have never thought about these issues, then you will after seeing this film. Decide for yourself the answers, but at the very least follow in Tolkin's footsteps part of the way and don't duck the questions. Films as bold and thought-provoking as this do not come along often: don't miss it. Grade: A
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