THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH seems to evoke judgmental reactions in many of its viewers, who nevertheless have taken to watching it, knowing full well what they were pretty much in for.
Yes, it helps if one is versed in the Bible, yet knowledge of the Scriptures is not required of one to appreciate this picture. Enter the skeptics who say that interpreting prophecy from selected Bible texts is somewhat akin to gleaning facts from ink blots. They may have a point there.
Regardless of one's religious beliefs or lack thereof, the warnings contained within the movie needn't be backed by a holy book for these to be considered - here, in this age of a climate crisis - as unscientific or irrelevant to our times. Indeed, I wonder, were the information presented sans its religious context, whether its dire predictions would be so glibly and smugly dismissed by those who have taken a delight in panning it, perhaps in the process missing the entire point of the film. What we're witnessing today, especially in the way of erratic weather patterns, about coincides with what is being emphasized in the movie. At the very least, TLGPE is a wake-up call, whatever it is, and a fine one at that.
Circa the late 1970s. It was an era of bushy hair, oversized spectacles, bell bottom trousers and platform shoes. Whether or not humankind stood on the brink of impending doom, suffice to say that for many the world of fashion must have seemed perilously close to coming to an end. Even so, that distinguished thespian, Orson Welles, looks great here and provides this overall lackluster production with some much needed screen presence, and some salt-and-pepper hair sprinkled in for added visual flavor.
Was Mr. Welles prone to splitting his sides in-between takes? Did he take what he was reciting seriously? Many wonder. It's been said there were theatergoers who took to rolling in the aisles during their screening of this, but why that was remains a mystery to me. This is weighty subject matter that warrants serious consideration and a critically open-minded examination, whether one is Christian or not. If one is looking for a few laughs or some song-and-dance numbers, if there were any to begin with, these must have ended up on the cutting-room floor, as one is hard pressed to find this here. It's Orson Welles in a somber tone, minus a yuk track.
Whether the Great Tribulation of which the Bible speaks of is an event to occur sometime in the near future I think is placing an undue emphasis on speculative chronology. The Bible speaks of it as if it's written in stone, divinely decreed to take place at some point in human history. Meanwhile, there are others who all but sit on their hands awaiting a magical transition in human consciousness to one day take place that will effortlessly improve the world.
Interestingly, date-setting has seemed to have gone out of style within most theological camps, perhaps in line with what the Bible says, which although providing general clues that might be applied to any generation also speaks of no man knowing the exact time period when the so-called Second Coming will occur.
As for the site of Megiddo, most Bible scholars tend to interpret this passage in Scripture metaphorically, as opposed to a literal location where the End Times will culminate.
As I watched this for the first time here in October, 2019, and as one with no religious affiliation, I was impressed by how even-tempered and straightforward the movie played. It did not come across to me as preachy at all. Neither did I perceive any gratuitous alarmism going on. If the movie evokes fear in some people, maybe that fear is justified. It is certainly not deliberately provocative. Mr. Welles speaks calmly and in a rational manner, without resorting to rousing oration or rhetoric.
Undoubtedly, atheists as well as navel-gazers into chanting mantras and the opening of chakras won't care for it much, but the dateless THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH most definitely does not play as a cinematic sermon or as a risible doomsayer out-of-touch with current events.
A few stars have been deducted from my rating of it simply on account of its monotonous presentation being rather an insipid affair.
Yes, it helps if one is versed in the Bible, yet knowledge of the Scriptures is not required of one to appreciate this picture. Enter the skeptics who say that interpreting prophecy from selected Bible texts is somewhat akin to gleaning facts from ink blots. They may have a point there.
Regardless of one's religious beliefs or lack thereof, the warnings contained within the movie needn't be backed by a holy book for these to be considered - here, in this age of a climate crisis - as unscientific or irrelevant to our times. Indeed, I wonder, were the information presented sans its religious context, whether its dire predictions would be so glibly and smugly dismissed by those who have taken a delight in panning it, perhaps in the process missing the entire point of the film. What we're witnessing today, especially in the way of erratic weather patterns, about coincides with what is being emphasized in the movie. At the very least, TLGPE is a wake-up call, whatever it is, and a fine one at that.
Circa the late 1970s. It was an era of bushy hair, oversized spectacles, bell bottom trousers and platform shoes. Whether or not humankind stood on the brink of impending doom, suffice to say that for many the world of fashion must have seemed perilously close to coming to an end. Even so, that distinguished thespian, Orson Welles, looks great here and provides this overall lackluster production with some much needed screen presence, and some salt-and-pepper hair sprinkled in for added visual flavor.
Was Mr. Welles prone to splitting his sides in-between takes? Did he take what he was reciting seriously? Many wonder. It's been said there were theatergoers who took to rolling in the aisles during their screening of this, but why that was remains a mystery to me. This is weighty subject matter that warrants serious consideration and a critically open-minded examination, whether one is Christian or not. If one is looking for a few laughs or some song-and-dance numbers, if there were any to begin with, these must have ended up on the cutting-room floor, as one is hard pressed to find this here. It's Orson Welles in a somber tone, minus a yuk track.
Whether the Great Tribulation of which the Bible speaks of is an event to occur sometime in the near future I think is placing an undue emphasis on speculative chronology. The Bible speaks of it as if it's written in stone, divinely decreed to take place at some point in human history. Meanwhile, there are others who all but sit on their hands awaiting a magical transition in human consciousness to one day take place that will effortlessly improve the world.
Interestingly, date-setting has seemed to have gone out of style within most theological camps, perhaps in line with what the Bible says, which although providing general clues that might be applied to any generation also speaks of no man knowing the exact time period when the so-called Second Coming will occur.
As for the site of Megiddo, most Bible scholars tend to interpret this passage in Scripture metaphorically, as opposed to a literal location where the End Times will culminate.
As I watched this for the first time here in October, 2019, and as one with no religious affiliation, I was impressed by how even-tempered and straightforward the movie played. It did not come across to me as preachy at all. Neither did I perceive any gratuitous alarmism going on. If the movie evokes fear in some people, maybe that fear is justified. It is certainly not deliberately provocative. Mr. Welles speaks calmly and in a rational manner, without resorting to rousing oration or rhetoric.
Undoubtedly, atheists as well as navel-gazers into chanting mantras and the opening of chakras won't care for it much, but the dateless THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH most definitely does not play as a cinematic sermon or as a risible doomsayer out-of-touch with current events.
A few stars have been deducted from my rating of it simply on account of its monotonous presentation being rather an insipid affair.