Perhaps it is not so extraordinary to think that, back in the late 70s, people were going to see something like this in the cinema in their droves, but it is rather stretching credibility to imagine how anyone took the film seriously. Based on the best selling book by Hal Lindsey, this hotchpotch of Biblical prophecy, interviews with spurious "experts", stock footage and re-enactments tries to convince its audience that the end times, as prophesied by the Old Testament prophets, Jesus and John of Revelations are on the verge of coming true. The best thing about the film is that it is narrated by Orson Welles, and his vocal and physical presence and carny-like ability to wink legerdemain whilst seeming completely serious is put to good effect, although this is certainly his subversion rather than the filmmaker's intentions (although why they chose of all people the creator of the radio War of the Worlds and F for Fake to narrate this is a hilarious mystery).
The film begins with some Biblical re-enactments: a false prophet is thrown off a mountain, Jeremiah is surprised that God wants to speak through him and John the Revelator stumbles around Patmos. These scenes, cheaply filmed and poorly acted, bring to mind less ancient times than more recent satirical depictions of the desert fathers, such as Bunuel's Simon of the Desert or Monty Python's Life of Brian. Once John has begun revelating, we are treated to a montage of him in the desert inter-cut with planes, tanks and bombs a sequence that has rather too much in common with Judas' Damned for all Time number in the film of Jesus Christ, Superstar.
We then enter the meat of the film's "argument", that now are the times when these Biblical prophecies shall be fulfilled. A cornucopia of modern troubles cross the screen, in no particular order (the film bears some relation to a Mondo, but is less well-edited or entertaining); we are worried by images of wars and famines, pollution (the film is a kind of forbear of An Inconvenient Truth here), genetic engineering, occultism and eastern religions. These random things to fear are held together by the idea that the Jews have now re-established themselves in the Holy Land and, since 1967, have possession of Jerusalem. The prophecy that the Jewish temple shall be rebuilt comes up against the rather inconvenient presence of The Dome of the Rock mosque, but here Orson comes into his own by satirising his narration that this problematic structure might be dismantled or destroyed of course it might, but that's hardly saying anything.
If anything, the film acts as a kind of barometer of the muddle-headed middle American fears of its age, with people as worried about nuclear cataclysm as they are about Indian gurus bringing transcendental meditation to the States. A promising section, perhaps influenced by The Omen, suggests that the Antichrist might be a populist American president Carter, Teddy Kennedy and Reagan are all under suspicion, and the hick man of the people looked forward to as the film's central casting idea of the Beast sounds scarily like Dubya. But fears from the home front are soon pushed aside by lots of scare-mongering about Russia (supposed to the Armageddon's Gog) and China who both have their eyes on the Middle East's fossil fuels US imperialism goes unmentioned.
The film ends entertainingly with a full-throttle montage of modern desert warfare, culminating in a Strangelove-type compilation of mushroom clouds, a vision of untouched nature, some time-lapse flowers and Orson booming out verses from Revelations as the stars appear. The film was perhaps best experienced on the big screen after a heavy toke on a strong Moroccan hashish.
Lindsey is interviewed himself, and comes across as a dull-headed idiot. Many of his prophecies such as The Beast coming from the "10 state" European union, have been disproved by history, and his bestseller is found nowadays, if found at all, in the second hand book racks of charity shops. Going out of print is probably a better fate than being chucked off the side of a cliff, but Lindsey and the false prophet that is portrayed at the film's front have, ironically, some lot of things in common
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