Left Behind: The Movie is a film released to theaters, VHS, and DVD in 2000, starring Kirk Cameron, Brad Johnson and Clarence Gilyard. It was directed by Vic Sarin. Left Behind was proclaimed by its creators as the biggest and most ambitious Christian film ever made.[1] It is based on the Left Behind series of books. It is the first in a three part trilogy, followed by Left Behind II: Tribulation Force and Left Behind: World at War.
Plot
Buck Narrates saying, "How do you desccribe both a begining and an end, we should have known better, but we didn't... what does it matter what we think we know, in the end there's no denying the truth." A young television journalist for a news network called GNN, Buck Williams, reports from Israel about a new technology with which food will grow almost anywhere. He calls this a miracle. Suddenly, Russian jets fly over, attempting to attack Israel. The sun disapears even though it is still in the day. A missile hits near Buck and Chaim as they retreat to a military bunker. The entire squadron of jets is mysteriously destroyed and explodes in the air over Israel.
The story shifts to Pilot Rayford Steele, who has been called in for an emergency flight from Chicago to London, thus forcing him to abandon his son's birthday party. Despite his wife's and his daughter's protests, he sets out on the flight, leaving his family behind. Buck, having decided to go to London for an investigation of the attack, boards Steele's plane.
During the flight some passengers awaken to realize that several of their fellow passengers are missing. Panic sets in as Steele and his crew try to contain this situation. Upon returning to the flight cockpit, they discover that people (later revealed to be Christians) are mysteriously disappearing worldwide. He is forced to turn the plane back to Chicago.
Shortly after landing, Buck locates Steele and asks him to fly him to NYC. Steele refuses, saying that he has to be with his family. He asks Buck to go with him and they drive to his suburban home.
Meanwhile, Chloe, Ray’s daughter, is driving to her college exam when she encounters a large traffic accident. People are reporting driverless cars and children missing from their seats. While Chloe is inspecting the carnage, her car is stolen by a hurt man and she is stranded on the wrecked highway.
Steele returns home and discovers that his wife and kids are missing. He and Buck are forced to stay in Steele's house because of a military-enforced curfew. Steele starts crying, he starts to get upset that he smashes a mirror with his wife's Bible, which he then actually starts to read.
Chloe returns home and reunites with her father. Soon Chloe goes downstairs and discovers Buck sleeping on the couch. Chloe drives Buck to the Airport and goes to look for her younger brother. Steele finally finds her in an elementary school and scolds her for running away.
After Chloe returns home, Steele goes to their neighborhood church and finds a pastor who knows Jesus from when they were kids but who has not been raised to heaven because of his lack of faith in God. He complains that he preached all his life but was never rewarded properly, because there's a difference between knowledge of God and belief in God.
Later, he begs God for another chance, and Steele assures him that God will. They watch a videotape left by another pastor, which tells us the true meaning of Rapture, in which all the believers are taken to heaven, while the rest are left behind to endure the tribulation.
When Buck gets to NYC and finds his contact has been killed, he takes a computer disc, and is almost shot by a sniper. Buck decodes the computer disc and finds that someone is trying to bankrupt the UN in order to control the world's food supply. After meeting with a UN member, a car bomb explodes and kills the UN member. Buck returns to the Steele house.
Steele tells Chloe about God and she says she believes. Buck, however, does not. He goes to the UN to warn the delegates. Steele attempts to stop him by saying "anything other than God will not work." Buck ignores Steele's advice and goes to the UN anyway. After his departure, Steele and his daughter pray for him.
At the UN, Buck warns the officials, but to little avail. Before the meeting Buck finally accepts God and asks Him to show him The Way. When God complies, he realizes that UN Secretary-General Nicolae is the Antichrist when he reveals his plan for world domination. His plans for rebuilding the temple of Israel are a logical first step to this end. He shoots the two bankers behind the plot to bankrupt the UN and then brainwashes everyone at the meeting into not telling anyone else about the murder he has committed. Everyone agrees, having been brainwashed. After the meeting Buck asks Hattie and his friends in the UN to open their eyes but they have all been brainwashed.
Buck finally returns to the church, knocks on the door, and Chloe lets him in. Narrating, Buck says the "seven years of peace" declared by Nicolae will be the seven worst years mankind has ever seen, and that faith is all we need, then it cuts to the credits.
It should be noted that the major actions of the protagonists (and in subsequent movies) fail to change events in any way that would contradict Christian prophecy (sometimes aiding Christian prophecy by accident), locking them into a series of inevitable events, much like the Foundation series.
Production
Cloud Ten Pictures licensed the rights to the first two Left Behind novels from Namesake Entertainment, which had licensed them from the books' authors. Filming commenced in early May 2000 and continued for a total of 31 days.
An Ontario quarry was used for the scenes of Israel. Bowmanville Zoo's Mike Hackenberger commented, "Camels sell the look.... As a prop, camels are great. You can move 'em around, you can stick 'em there, and you see a camel on sand, you know it's desert. . . They might not fit through the eye of the needle, but without them, this movie would have been a disaster. There should be at least one camel in every movie."[citation needed]
Before Janaya Stephens took the role of Chloe Steele, it had been given to Lacey Chabert, who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.
Some of the extras who played the saved were various Christian ministers, most notably John Hagee (who is featured on the airplane shortly before the mass disappearance, and who was also very instrumental in the movie's promotion) and T.D. Jakes (who appears in the video that the group watches, telling them what to expect). Christian music artists were also used as extras, such as Bob Carlisle and Rebecca St. James, who appear as news anchors, and the Christian group Jake, who appear as police guards towards the end of the movie.
Critical Reception and Response
The film has received mixed reviews. CNN has called the film, "Compelling, engaging". Movie Guide has said, "Bravo! The best film in the apocolyptic genre". The LA Film Magazine has said, "Left Behind has every thing you want to see in a big action film". CBN TV has said Left Behind is "Hauntingly Powerful". It received a 12% positive rating among reviewers on the Rotten Tomatoes website.[2] The Washington Post's Desson Howe, described it as "...a blundering cringefest, thanks to unintentionally laughable dialogue, hackneyed writing and uninspired direction. The more this movie tries, the worse it gets. Its sincerity ends up becoming a bulging bull's-eye for rotten-tomato throwers."[3] One of the authors of the book series, Tim LaHaye (who along with Jerry B. Jenkins, refused to attach their names to the film) was outraged over this, as claimed he was promised a movie version on a $40 million budget and a two-hour adaptation, and sued Namesake and Cloud Ten for $10 million.[citation needed] Jerry Jenkins, however, refused to join as a plaintiff in the lawsuit and LaHaye's claims were eventually dismissed by the trial court. After an appeal by LaHaye reinstated some of the claims, the parties finally settled the case in July 2008. LaHaye dropped all claims against Namesake and Cloud Ten in exchange for an option to remake the films based on the first two books in the series.
Deleted Scenes and MPAA Rating
The Film was rated PG-13: For Violence
The following scenes were deleted from the movie. They were filmed, but as of 2005 have not appeared on the DVD version yet.
- An extended version of the conversation between Cameron "Buck" Williams and Chloe Steele on their way to see Ken Ritz (supposedly revealing more about their thoughts as to the disappearances)
- Bruce Barnes' search for Pastor Vernon Billings' videotape concerning the Rapture.
Legal Dispute
Owing to dissatisfaction with the quality of this movie and its sequels, LaHaye filed suit against Namesake Entertainment and Cloud Ten Pictures in July 1999, claiming breach of contract[4]. On July 3, 2008, Tim LaHaye and Cloud Ten settled legal disputes on the film adaptations of the book series[5]. Part of the agreement grants LaHaye an opportunity to remake the series. He asserts:
My dream has always been to enter the movie theater with a first-class, high-quality movie that is grippingly interesting, but also is true to the biblical storyline -- and that was diluted in the first attempt. But Lord willing, we are going to see this thing made into the movie that it should be, and that all the world sees it before the real Rapture comes. [6]
Parodies
The movie was parodied in The Simpsons episode "Thank God It's Doomsday" where Homer watches a movie called Left Below, the premise being that all non-Christians are "Left Below", including a Buddhist priest (who laments "I thought all religions were a path to God — I was wrong!"), a woman using a television set as a raft during a flood (who asks "Why did I put my faith in science and technology?") and a homosexual man (who screams "Oh why did I choose to be gay?!"). The movie is parodied in the American Dad episode Rapture's Delight That shows the first days after the Rapture and the final confrontation between Jesus and the Anti-Christ.
References
- All quotes from people affiliated with Left Behind: The Movie are from the "Making of Left Behind" featurette.
- ^ Janaya Stephens, "The Making of Left Behind: The Movie." Left Behind: The Movie DVD Special Features. Cloud Ten Pictures, 2005.
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes: Left Behind: The Movie
- ^ Washington Post review: 'Left Behind': Heaven Help Us
- ^ [1]Christian Film News: 'Left Behind' author LaHaye sues 'Left Behind—The Movie' producers
- ^ [2]Cloud Ten Pictures website: LaHaye suit press release
- ^ [3]Christian Cinema website: LaHaye to Remake "Left Behind" Stories
Further reading
- Forbes, Bruce David and Jeanne Halgren Kilde (eds.), Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times: Exploring the Left Behind Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ISBN 1-4039-6525-0
- Frykholm, Amy David. Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America. Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-515983-7
- Reed, David A., LEFT BEHIND Answered Verse by Verse. Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com, 2008. ISBN 1-4357-0873-3
- Rossing, Barbara R., The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation, New York: Basic Books, 2004. ISBN 0-8133-4314-3
- Shuck, Glenn W.. Marks Of The Beast: The Left Behind Novels And The Struggle For Evangelical Identity. New York University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8147-4005-7
- Gribben, Crawford, Rapture Fiction and the Evangelical Crisis. Evangelical Press, 2006. ISBN 0-85234-610-7.
- Snow Flesher, LeAnn, "Left Behind? The Facts Behind the Fiction". Valley Forge, Judson Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8170-1490-X
External links
