The Rapture (1991)

Mimi Rogers as Sharon, is a promiscuous telephone information operator, who juggles her job and her swinging lifestyle. After a series of incidents, she questions her lot in life and turns to the church to provide comfort and reassurance that there is redemption for her life with the coming of “The Rapture”. From this point she turns her back on her old way of life, embracing the prophecy as a slow burning fuse which ultimately will take her to salvation. Paraphrasing John Lennon, “life is what happens when you are making plans for something else”, she marries, has a daughter whom she is preparing for Heaven as well, and loses her husband to an act of senseless violence. When the prophecy proves not to be an instant pay-off, she withdraws from society to a desert park to wait out the impending call to heaven. Michael Tolkin tells this story with great feeling using little if not any special effects. While I really did not expect to find this film interesting, (I am not a “person of faith” actually looking up to Bill Maher as a spiritual leader) I was actually able to watch and care about the Sharon even though I knew what would come of her faith. Mr. Tolkin’s film actually provides an End Of Days with some rather interesting symbolism. Is this really a faith-based movie, or is it a cynical look at religious beliefs? I cannot be sure but I was certainly glad to have seen it.

Sherman's March

I'm not sure when Ross McElwee decided to turn this documentary into a look at relationships in the early 1980s. It seems that it was his original intention and that the parallel between his love life and the life of William Tecumseh Sherman is more of an afterthought than a diversion. If you are looking for information about Sherman's March To The Sea, you are advised to look elsewhere, although there are certainly a few things that can be learned, the film begins with McElwee explaining his bad luck as his girlfriend has left him for a former boyfriend. From this point forward, we see him proceed immediately to his hometown in the Deep South and is subjected to family and friends good intentions trying to fix him up with a good southern girl. Meeting women along the way, he follows the path of Sherman's March, meeting women along the way, who drift in and out of his life without ever succumbing to his charms which must be easily ignorable considering the fact that he spends so much time filming their more personal moments. “Sherman's March” actually becomes more interesting because of it's mediocrity and if that is not enough of a lure to watch it, there is always the view of life seen before cellular technology, computers, and the other marvels of technology came along.