# Movie called The Rapture (1991) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2014, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481 "2014-04-19T12:28:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![butterfiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@butterfiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butterfiles)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/1 "2014-04-19T12:28:19Z")
Hi, I just finished a movie called The Rapture made in 1991 with Mimi Rogers, David Duchovny, and others. Anyway, it was interesting to me, especially when the movie dealt with a literalist faith and suicide. I’ve always wondered why more believers don’t kill themselves. Anybody else here see it? If so, what did you think of it? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/2 "2014-04-19T12:37:00Z")
Saw it, love it, own it, show it to friends. Why don’t most of us believers kill ourselves? Well, there is the very common idea that since such a final act cuts off the possibility of repentance, that suicide would be unforgivable, and thus a sure-fire way to end up in Hell. But even if that were not the case, and for us who believe in a God Who is more understanding of our weakness, we’re still pretty sure He would be displeased by such an act and would not let us get out of our troubles that easily. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/3 "2014-04-19T13:22:31Z")
It was about literalist faith and suicide? I thought it was about Los Angeles. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/4 "2014-04-19T14:23:39Z")
Much like Miracle Mile, the whole time I’m thinking…“So this is really happening?” ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/5 "2014-04-21T04:18:05Z")
It’s been a while since I saw it, but I thought it was ultimately about not being able to have faith. Mimi Rogers never fully committed to a faith-based belief. Even after she kills her daughter so that she (her daughter) can go to the hereafter, Mimi could not, as she had planned, pull the trigger on herself. Instead, she fires the gun up into the sky. She never fully believes in the religion until the end, when the Rapture actually happens. At that point it’s not faith, it’s fact. And even then, she rejects it. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/6 "2014-04-21T04:36:14Z")
Overwrought film that should have throttled things back towards the end. Probably Mimi Rogers best work which is sort of sad as next to no one has ever seen it (I only saw in late night on Cinemax about 3 years after it was in the theaters). I’m an atheist and while I would be forced to accept the existence of a god or gods if a “Rapture” event occurred, if something like what happened the film happened in real life, my first thoughts would be: [ol] [li]I’m having a stroke[/li][li]I’m hallucinating[/li][li]I have been dosed with an extremely powerful psychedelic drug[/li][li]Alien invasion[/li] [/ol] “The Rapture” would be way down my list. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/7 "2014-04-21T05:51:32Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Overwrought film that should have throttled things back towards the end. Probably Mimi Rogers best work which is sort of sad as next to no one has ever seen it (I only saw in late night on Cinemax about 3 years after it was in the theaters). > > I’m an atheist and while I would be forced to accept the existence of a god or gods if a “Rapture” event occurred, if something like what happened the film happened in real life, my first thoughts would be: > > [ol] > [li]I’m having a stroke[/li][li]I’m hallucinating[/li][li]I have been dosed with an extremely powerful psychedelic drug[/li][li]Alien invasion[/li] > [/ol] > > “The Rapture” would be way down my list. Even if a deceased loved one is standing right in front of you telling you that it’s the Rapture? ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/8 "2014-04-21T12:52:50Z")
^ That would be the part where I make arrangements to check into the Rubber Ramada. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/9 "2014-04-21T12:58:30Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Even if a deceased loved one is standing right in front of you telling you that it’s the Rapture? See #2. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/10 "2014-04-21T14:29:51Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > It’s been a while since I saw it, but I thought it was ultimately about not being able to have faith. Mimi Rogers never fully committed to a faith-based belief. Even after she kills her daughter so that she (her daughter) can go to the hereafter, Mimi could not, as she had planned, pull the trigger on herself. Instead, she fires the gun up into the sky. > > She never fully believes in the religion until the end, when the Rapture actually happens. At that point it’s not faith, it’s fact. > > And even then, she rejects it. It’s not that she didn’t believe; rather, she is angry at God. In the end, she holds on to that anger and chooses isolation. It’s the same idea expressed by C.S. Lewis in The Great Divorce (and, FWIW, Neil Gaiman in the Sandman). > [@nevadaexile](#): > > I’m an atheist and while I would be forced to accept the existence of a god or gods if a “Rapture” event occurred, if something like what happened the film happened in real life, my first thoughts would be: > > [ol] > [li]I’m having a stroke[/li][li]I’m hallucinating[/li][li]I have been dosed with an extremely powerful psychedelic drug[/li][li]Alien invasion[/li] > [/ol] > > “The Rapture” would be way down my list. Perfectly understandable, and this underscores the idea that no matter what is physically happening, the interpretation of those events as the Rapture will always remain a question of faith. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/11 "2014-04-21T15:54:16Z")
FWIW, it’s “Hell”\* she’s choosing. But I may be splitting hairs here. \*Hell being the interpretation of a cold place forever unseen or touched by God. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/12 "2014-04-22T01:28:16Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s not that she didn’t believe; rather, she is angry at God. In the end, she holds on to that anger and chooses isolation. > . Note that I did not say that she did not believe, but that she never fully committed to a _faith-based_ belief. The anger part I agree with, but I submit that her anger is underpinned by a deficiency of faith. If her faith was primary, she could/would have been able to regard all the things that made her angry as part of the larger plan, for the best, God’s Will, etc. She could not do that. IMO, that is the most interesting thing about the story, and why it is for me primarily about her inability to have a faith-based belief. The facts of the religion become self evident at the end, in the form of the Rapture. She cannot deny that. But despite that concreteness, she still can’t buy into the part that requires the proverbial “leap of faith”. The movie is unique for parsing those things. The Mimi Rogers character in this movie reminds me of the Jodie Foster character in “Contact”. The two seem to end up in opposite places. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/13 "2014-04-22T01:34:02Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Even if a deceased loved one is standing right in front of you telling you that it’s the Rapture? **ESPECIALLY** if that occurred. In my mind, I have to go the most likely things to occur before I end up at the supernatural. If I have worked my way down that mental checklist and everything else doesn’t seem to be the cause of the what I’m experiencing, then I would have to accept the fact that something very unusual is occurring. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/14 "2014-04-22T02:09:33Z")
A movie just appeared on Netflix Streaming, _Rapture-palooza_. Really uneven, but worth a watch. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/15 "2014-04-22T03:13:27Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Overwrought film that should have throttled things back towards the end. Probably Mimi Rogers best work which is sort of sad as next to no one has ever seen it (I only saw in late night on Cinemax about 3 years after it was in the theaters). > > I’m an atheist and while I would be forced to accept the existence of a god or gods if a “Rapture” event occurred, if something like what happened the film happened in real life, my first thoughts would be: > > [ol] > [li]I’m having a stroke[/li][li]I’m hallucinating[/li][li]I have been dosed with an extremely powerful psychedelic drug[/li][li]Alien invasion[/li] > [/ol] > > “The Rapture” would be way down my list. Somewhere on that list ahead of “Alien Invasion” should be “inflatable sex dolls filled with helium.” ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/16 "2014-04-22T03:14:39Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Somewhere on that list ahead of “Alien Invasion” should be “inflatable sex dolls filled with helium.” That would be hypoxia. That’s number 5. ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/17 "2014-04-22T05:02:46Z")
Saw it a couple times. The start was the best part, up until Fox Mulder dies. The middle sort of flounders, IMO, but it’s still better than the ending. Crappy, unnecessary effects, such as they were, and a very bland, uninspiring Rapture, reminiscent of an old Twilight Zone, but less charming. If I were a character in the story, I would’ve wondered, “Is that it?!” ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/18 "2014-04-22T09:45:29Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Somewhere on that list ahead of “Alien Invasion” should be “inflatable sex dolls filled with helium.” Another _Six Feet Under_ fan. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/19 "2014-04-22T15:52:37Z")
This is one of those movies I watched and enjoyed…but never want to watch again. Its that odd element of acknowledging of, and then rejection of christian mythos. ---
**Author:** ![butterfiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@butterfiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butterfiles)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481/20 "2014-04-23T01:38:15Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > Another _Six Feet Under_ fan. 😃 That was one of my favorite episodes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-called-the-rapture-1991/686481.md?page=2)