Would a non-christian enjoy this movie?
What did you rate this movie?
Absolutely. It's an excellent film. It has a very unique story line and filming style. It has a very interesting critique of born again Christianity. Very thought provoking and entertaining.
shareI'm an atheist and thought it was a great film. You can be secular and still have an interest in religious matters. The Rapture is probably more timely now then when it was made, considering the rise of conservative Christianity in the US. In the end the film hardly comes down on the side of religious zealotry considering Sharon's choice.
shareI didn't understand why the hell she felt she had to do what she did to her child----that never made any damn sense to me, and showed that she had completely lost her damn mind at that point. Was the rapture actually happening, or was she losing it and only having delusions about it? And her final decision at the end really didn't make any sense to me either----I thought it was insane and truly haunting. Being raised in a religious home, that ending did freak me out at the time, since it was so totally unexpected and disturbing as hell. It was most definitely not your traditional Christian film, that's for certain.
shareI think if we place the essence of this film outside of a stricly contemporary social context, it becomes even more powerful because it addresses universal human concerns. The "vehicle" used in this movie was religion and god, specifically, Christian. However, the entire film can be interpreted in many different ways, regardless of the viewer's own personal ways of thinking (which I hope are not static and fixed on pure dogma). I am not a religious person, and to be honest, I don't know what it really means to be a "religious person," or if it means anything at all. However, I am always open to ideas, and I think this film kind of suggests the need for questioning, and the need for people all over the world to facilitate a place where questions about things like spirituality, religion, god(s), etc don't have to be considered taboo and off-limits. This film, more than a moral dictum, is a celebration of the human ability to think, to imagine, to hope, and to experience life not as a merely logical, cold machine, but neither as a flying ghost of mysticism either. It is an homage to the human mind, really.
shareWow. What a great post. I don't know if you are still out there, but -- Brava !
shareI thought this movie was great, and I do not identify with any religion (especially organized religions).
One thing you have to understand is that there is a difference between being religious about religion and being religious about life or personal spirituality.
I saw this movie when I was an atheist (I'm a born again christian now) and loved it. Very intense and thought provoking.
FYI, there is a lot of content in this film most christians would question to say the least. Most notably the vision of the blue pearl and the child prophet.
Excellent movie - but the ending was just amazing and has stuck with me over the years. I have no religion at all but found the ending was very moving.
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I just love how she chooses to ignore a basicly evil 'god' and choose oblivion on her own terms rather than the madness of 'god's' path as depicted in the movie. I so agree with her choice - I'd definately rather be disolved into oblivion than spend eternity with the christians.
I am with you on that... I think its a great expose on the hypocrisy of Christianity and the perversion of the teachings of Jesus.
I think the most telling part of this movie is when she is talking about the fact that she just killed her child and she should get the gas chamber, but as long as she professes her love for god before she goes, she will be able to go to heaven. That is the biggest joke about Christianity or any other religion that allows you salvation even though you break the rules on earth....
anyone who is "saved" by this movie, didn't get it... lol
appropriatley, i just finished watching it on the SyFy channel.... its good to see religious mythology right up there with all the other Science Fiction.
Does that mean that you believe 'the end is near'?, well that is my question to you and my respond to the the post is this; I don't think christians would like the film.
shareI come at it from the other side -- I was once very Christian and am now a non-believer. The reason I quit believing is that over time I just couldn't reconcile the perfect God with the God of the scriptures. God is perfect; yet the bible God displays very human traits most of us find distasteful in our fellow human beings. The whole Isaac and Jacob thing is the perfect example, as portrayed in the film. I know nothing about the director, but the question he asks in the film are the questions I asked myself (the questions we all ask ourselves when we lose religion). For awhile it was just Christianity, but after a few years it was all religion and superstition.
That's my take on the film, anyway.
T. S. Eliot once wrote: "I believe, having constructed something in which to believe." (quoted from memory, so it may be inexact)
shareThe reason that I'm not a believer is that I can't believe. I can't believe in a god that created this world, just like many other people can't believe in a Coca Cola bottle that created this world.
That's fine with me. If you can't believe in something, it is better to accept this as a fact, rather than to uphold some forced, artificial 'belief' just because other people (say that they) believe.
Why would you believe in the Almighty Coca Cola bottle if you really don't? Just because other people tell you that it is soooo good and that you're missing out on a lot?
Regarding the cause of your disbelief: I wouldn't need the Coca Cola bottle to display unpleasant human traits for me to not believe in it. It is just the concept of an omnipotent, omnicreative force that is silly and totally unbelievable to me.
Many non-Christians and Christians have critiqued the film. If you are not familiar with Christianity then you may have a hard time understanding what exactly is going on at all times and what the references are to. Christians on the the other hand question a lot of the parts of film as "inaccurate" or whatnot. I personally did not really care for the film either way you look at it.
shareI totally agree. My mother is freakish with her Christianity and LOVED it like no other movie until the ending. Then she said it was blasphemous.
This isn't a very positive portrayal of Christianity.
There's a line that Randy makes early on in the film that goes something like "You can numb the pain with heroine or you can numb the pain with God".
So true.
It's a comedy. Even non-christians enjoy a good laugh.
-- If Ewan McGregor were a lollipop I'd be a diabetic strumpet --
I found this movie incredibly disturbing but very well acted. What are the Christian objections to it, especially from people who really believe in the Rapture? Not being a Christian, I'm not sure about this.
share-- If Ewan McGregor were a lollipop I'd be a diabetic strumpet --