Year:  2009
Genre:  Documentary
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Directors:  Kate Davis, David Heilbroner, Franco Sacchi
Run time:  74 minutes
DVD distributor:  First Run Features

     One day, and that day is coming soon, Jesus will return to Earth amid rampant bloodshed.  World War III will be taking place in and around Israel.  The holy armies of the Lord (Christians and Jews) will defend Israel against The Rest Of The World, which will attempt to to take over Israel by force.  Then, the second coming of Jesus will occur, where the Son Of God will arrive, defeat the marauding armies of the Rest Of The World, and then take all pious Christians up to heaven with him as the Rapture tkaes place.  Look for this to happen in the next two or three years.

     What could be scarier than this?  How about the fact that 50 million Americans believe, wholeheartedly, that it will take place.  To the point where teenagers are lamenting the fact that they will never get a chance to be married, because the Rapture will happen before they are old enough to take the plunge?  Or parents, who are sad that their children will never graduate high school, because Armageddon will take place before it happens.

     There are a few problematic details with their beliefs.  One problem is that these evangelist Christians believe that the Jews are God’s chosen people.  And that any word or act against the Jews (or even against Israel) is an act against God.  Therefore, they defend Israel to the end, and they are part of the lobby in the States that says Israel can do no wrong, and any complaint about their tactics in Palestine is anti-Semitic.  (Which makes Waiting for Armageddon a really interesting companion film to Defamation, which was also released this week by First Run Features.)

     So Jesus will come and rescue God’s chosen people at the time of the Rapture.  God’s chosen people being the Jews.  And all good Christians will be taken up to heaven, everyone else will be Left Behind.  But – and here’s where it becomes a little problematic – the Jews will not get to go unless they convert to Christianity.  Which would make them…no longer Jews.  And for some reason, only 144,000 of them will do so.  Oh, there’s a lot of prophecy to back this up.  We’re told.

     That’s what Waiting For Armageddon is all about.  The 50 million Americans who believe fervently in the Rapture.  Who think the Muslim mosque in Jerusalem is a blight on the world and hope for someone to destreoy it so the Jews can build their temple there instead, so Jesus can return to Earth and save the Jews and make them no longer Jewish and bring them to heaven along with the Christian evangelicals who believe.

     There are definitely some creepy scenes in Waiting For Armageddon, mostly involving tour groups of evangelicals who visit Jerusalem and say some pretty reprehensible things about Muslims and Jews and their beliefs.  Well, I suppose that those things are reprehensible if you are of a certain viewpoint.  Surprisingly, the film doesn’t really take a viewpoint of its own.  Considering the subject matter, Waiting For Armageddon is extremely even-handed, and lets the viewers come to their own conclusions.

     I think it’s clear what conclusion I came to in watching this movie.  These people are nuts, this thinking is scary, and there are some seriously troubling connections between the Christian evangelicals and Israel.  But if you watch the movie, you may come out with a different opinion.  I really hope you do that.  Watch the movie, that is.  Because Waiting For Armageddon is good, and it’s eye opening, no matter what your opinion may be.

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