I was excited to watch Michael Tolkin’s The Rapture due to the fact that it uses a biblical approach to portray the end of the world. I have seen many apocalyptic movies, but never have I watched one where the events in the Book of Revelation happen literally. I personally did not like this movie, and I was left a bit confused as to how I was supposed to interpret it’s message. Before Sharon finds herself believing in God, she lives a life as a phone operator who participates in casual sex, drinking, smoking, and all the other thoughtless and careless habits of someone with no meaning in life. A good example of the hollowness of her life is present in the very graphic sex scenes, which though revealing, had no sense of emotion or passion in them. I felt this was a good representation of how physically based and meaningless Sharon’s lifestyle had become. It isn’t exactly revealed why she acts this way, is it because she has no faith in anything? I normally wouldn’t have thought too much into why Sharon lives recklessly, however I figured there must be more to it than she’s just a regular, unmotivated individual. I think it should have something to do with the fact that she doesn’t believe in God because her personality changes drastically when she turns to religion. After her conversation with the two men who come to her door, something in her changes. She feels a connection to God, and Sharon finally has something emotional in her life, a purpose to strive to achieve. She marries Randy, has a child, and goes on to live a generally normal, religious life. Even when her husband is killed, she remains calm, has faith, and tries to move on. As the film goes on and Sharon’s belief that the end is near escalates, she enters some state of ‘madness’. She murders her daughter, and as soon as this was happening, I imagined if this were to happen in today’s world. If I turned on the news and saw that a mother killed her daughter to send her to Heaven, I am sure that she would be diagnosed as psychotic and put away in a mental facility. Sharon uses her relationship to God to justify this action, but this is extreme behavior and made me think that she was dangerously delusional. In the end, God ends up being real, and he is wrathful and judgmental He demands that Sharon love him and devote herself to him, but the death of her daughter and husband prove to be too influential for her to forgive God. He abandons her, and ultimately Sharon ends up alone, with nothing to show for her devotion to religion and her change in careless behavior.
As someone who does not believe that the Book of Revelation has any literal truth, it was difficult to sit down and watch this entire movie. If one believes that there truly is a Heaven and Hell and that we must live sin free to attain salvation, life would become impossible to live. Every move you make becomes some sort of debate between good and evil, and simply living day to day becomes a struggle. I spent the majority of the film thinking that the Rapture wouldn’t actually happen, which therefore led me toview Sharon as insane. The fact that in the film ends with the Book of Revelation coming true was ridiculous to me. I don’t think the director meant to convert anyone into believers or to express his own beliefs; he simply made this film to explore what might happen if the Revelation came upon us. Basically, Sharon’s struggle to find herself and convert to a religious lifestyle ends up making her kill her daughter and abandon her faith in God. Is this meant to show that God is cruel and that he will only save you if you follow him blindly? Why didn’t God come to the desert to save Sharon and her daughter before everything turned to Chaos? If Sharon was faithful and lived religiously why was everything taken from her anyway? There are too many questions I can’t answer from this film, and it made me feel hopeless for my ‘destiny’ if God does actually exist. I think I am a good person, but if God is so harsh, it won’t be enough to save me.
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