Praying for Armageddon (2023) User Reviews

Disturbing, but relevant

[ericanaess · 8/10 · 23 October 2023]

If you filter the review scores by country, it's basically the Americans who are trashing the film. I'm an American living in Norway (the home country of the director), and I found the film very disturbing, and incredibly relevant.

I teach about American government and politics and it's clear that despite the fact that there is supposed to be a separation of church and state, religion has had a massive influence on politics in the US for a long time. How does anyone think Roe gets overturned despite the majority of Americans being against that?

And this film shows how these Evangelical literal interpretations of the Bible lead to America's flawed Israel policy. It's incredibly scary to see how many people want war in the region and how close we are to this escalating.

I only wish we got to know how the one former preacher, Frank Schaeffer, came to leave the movement. It could serve as a path forward. How do you deprogram these people? The film doesn't really leave us with any hope or point to any solutions to the problem, which is my main problem with it.

A very good documentary!

[zfcpfzkfg · 8/10 · 29 March 2023]

This doesn't demonize Christianity because what it show has nothing to do with Christianity. It is showing how some of the evangelical community has a very concerning grip on some of the republicans, politicians, churches and military. It is showing us everything that can and will go wrong if Trump comes to power again and it is showing a clear picture of how Israel is behaving towards the Palestinians and USA's role in this.

Watch this if you are the slightest interested in the deeply concerning Armageddon movement in USA. Don't watch this if you believe that Jesus wants us to fight and believe that he will come down to us with weapons in his hands.

Very relevant documentary

[eirikrohalden · 10/10 · 8 November 2023]

If one observes just now US policy in the Middle East it is very scary to find the similarities with the documentary. US seems to be a very violent culture, problems are solved by firearms, just look at Hollywood movies, mass shootings and fire arm laws. Very disturbing documentary, i hope the reality is not so close but the latest news seems to support the claims in the movie. Hopefully this documentary will pinpoint the structural problems in US which are clearly shown in US politics the last years. I was not aware of the great influence from evangelia churces but if you notice both democrats and republicans are referering to God in their speeches.

A powerful insight into a persistent crisis

[walnuttreegardennursery · 10/10 · 16 May 2024]

This film, besides lifting the lid on some truly hair-raising aspects of modern American politics, also provides an alarming insight into why there is such a catastrophe unfolding in Israel/Palestine, most especially, at the time of writing, in Gaza, which is enduring truly unimaginable levels of grief, pain and death -all of which would be enthusiastically welcomed by the Armageddon fanatics in the USA. The United States, as presented here, already a deeply religious nation, stands on the the threshold of becoming a fully fledged theocracy, which, unlike Iran or Saudi Arabia, possess the power to unleash truly biblical levels of destruction - Armageddon indeed.

I would strongly recommend watching this film in order to gain a deeper understanding of an unfolding tragedy, far beyond the banal platitudes we are normally served in the media.

you can generally rely on 'Bible Christians' to misrepresent the Bible

[gilleliath · 5/10 · 14 May 2024]

Yes, it is disturbing that Christian fundamentalists are holding Bible classes for US senators and directly advising members of Trump's team. But the review saying that this film is essentially conspiracy theories writ large is right. We spend a lot of time - a *lot* - listening to these preachers, but what we don't have is real evidence of their influence on policy.

And in any case, it's not really fair to blame the preachers. They are only a symptom. The disease is that you are a nation of crazies, who willingly listen to this stuff or else one of a dozen other brands of craziness: survivalism, cults, the NRA, the Deep State, xenophobia, climate change denial; I mean, how can you get any crazier than voting for Trump? Then there's the craziness of secular liberalism, the preachers aren't wrong about everything. And meanwhile you have Russia, which has become the instrument of the craziness of one man. God help us all, indeed.

I admit we have some of these brands of craziness at home in Britain too. But generally we're less prone to breaking out into violence over them.

If there's anybody I haven't yet insulted, I do apologise. But don't shoot the messenger - I'm just telling it like it is.

If you like watching conspiracy theory clips on youtube, this might be for you

[danielprag-718-338413 · 4/10 · 15 April 2024]

Nothing but a conspiracy theory with a slightly bigger budget. It is not nuanced. A clear attempt to create reactions and emotions, rather than objectivity. If you do a bit of your own research, you quickly find that several elements are greatly exaggerated or taken out of context. They pick what fits into their storyline. The journalist who is used in the field does not conduct good interviews and does not get close to any important figures. He doesn't strike me as credible. He is loyal to the storyline, not the journalistic profession.

It was bad, ignorant, but somewhat entertaining. I think the director is trying to use this channel to raise awareness about Gaza, but wraps it in a different package to reach a larger audience.