Waiting For Armageddon

Year: 2009

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Davis

Review

documentary about fundamentalist christians waiting for the rapture. i love these people because they encapsulate a condition that is universal to humanity throughout time: temporal centrism. it’s the idea that the age you’re living in is the golden age, the age that is different from all others and that the end is nigh. i love movies about armageddon because i like to think about the possibilities and see what humans are really capable of. however, that doesn’t mean i think we’re living in some completely unique time as many others seem to. each belief system has their own version of the rapture, whether it’s global warming or the second coming of christ or nuclear war. i’ll grant you that our time right now is unique because of the speed with which we can move people/data around the world and we have more ability now to end humanity than we have throughout most of human history. however, i don’t think that we’re all that unique other than that. i don’t see any more reason to believe that the end of humanity is closer now than it was 150 years ago or during the plague or any other time. the psychos on the film will have you believe that since the middle east is in a state of disarray and things like aids are spreading, these are signs that god is coming. gimme a break. disease kills fewer people now that probably any point in history and the middle east has always been a mess and probably always will be because of nut cases like those in this film. interesting stuff.