MovieChat Forums > The Rapture (1991) Discussion > Overthinkng...possibl y?

Overthinkng...possibl y?

posted 12 years ago by lambiepie-2
2 replies | jump to latest

Cable stations are showing this again and I caught it last night. Its been 20 years since I've seen it, and I still have the same opinion then as I have now. This is a brilliant film. sometimes I think people over think it but ti does one thing: it presents quite several points of view and it is up to the viewer to decide where the line exists...with them.

Of course there are several instances that are meant for you to discuss. I mean, you have the bad staple of what some think are the dregs against Christianity - adultery, sex, debauchery, deniable circumstances...and then... revelations/awakening... getting saved to be more, ahem, righteous (and with all the alleged trappings of it all)....but then... more hell and personal strife...the Rapture...and then, wondering what was all of this for? God? Where was He when she "needed" him?

When you see this, where do you stand? Same thoughts? Same life? Abhorrent to her life? She got what she deserved for the life she led? God forgives, but is He the only one allowed to forgive? Why after a big change is her life not..better? Who is in control? Who should be in control? How far should you go...and under how much can faith carry you? And when it's time for that final judgement...what will you do/choose? Not everyone will choose the "right" thing, did she? Will you? Everyone will take a side, see things differently and that is the beauty of this film, I think. No answers given, you need to decide...and debate. That's what this film does. No need to over think it as I believe the answer is supposed to be personal to you as it was for her.

It was Rhoda's medal.

[–] TotheWatersandtheWild 12 years ago

Exactly... true. When I first saw this, I had such a visceral response. Couldn't possibly articulate it. It just worked, succeeded, did what it was supposed to do, to me. And it haunted me for years. I almost think it transcends...it felt so deeply spiritual, transcending, intimate. Mimi Rogers gave such a raw and honest performance.

I remember it so well and caught part of it last night again. I think it still works. Still affects me in a way that is deeply personal and hard to express. But I thought it was beautiful. And awful in a sense that she tries so hard to be religious, to fill the void in her life and heart by wanting to be good, pure, almost reborn from her sin.

But then when it is happening... she thinks too much. Almost as if she didn't absorb the spirit of love but intellectualized it instead. So it (God, religion) didn't fit into her predefined box; wasn't predictable or kind or perfect enough according to her human perception.
That just echoes what seems to be cause frustration with the concept of God or religion. As in "If He is so loving, how does he allow so much suffering..?" But that's a human-centric perspective.
If God created man, God created free will.
Man creates suffering.
She created her own hell and chose to live the way she did and to deny the wholeness of it.
She couldn't surrender to it.
Maybe that's where it lies then, the ... overthinking can kill the beauty.

Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality

[–] nufsaid16 (700) a year ago

My opinion of the ending is that nobody told her to do what she did to her child---she chose to do it, so it was stupid for her to get mad at God for supposedly letting her do it, and then get mad and refuse to leave after the rapture, even to be with her daughter. She had free will---nobody told her to do what she did. Her decision just struck me as really shortsighted, selfish, and stupid--plus not making much sense to begin with. Yeah, she's mad at God, but was that really worth being stuck in limbo forever? No, it wasn't. She got herself trapped in limbo forever just to make some stupid point---that was ridiculous.