'Left Behind' phenomenon continues to blossom
By Chuck Graham
Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen
 |
|
|
Cecil B. DeMille loved to make them. The special effects he used to create the illusion of Moses parting the Red Sea are a part of cinema history. But the emerging pop culture that followed rock 'n' roll was devoutly secular. Not only didn't Christian rock cross over into the mainstream, Christian films didn't have any significant box office draw.
All that began to change when Christian bookstores began selling videotapes. Producers of direct-to-video movies with Christian themes had a straight pipeline to the people who wanted them.
Enter the "Left Behind" books — nine of them now — and rapidly becoming a major franchise with two movies and, in early 2003, a television series that will air in Canada and be available on VHS and DVD in the United States.
Based on the best-selling books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins on the rapture and the Book of Revelation, the first straight to video and DVD movie sold more than 3 million copies.
Bringing those popular books to the big screen is where Cloud Ten Pictures comes in. The first film, "Left Behind," adapted from the first book, was released in 2000 with Kirk Cameron ("Growing Pains") in the lead role.
The last four books in this continuing series opened at No. 1 on many best-seller lists. According to Publishers Weekly, the ninth book, "Desecration," (Tyndale House, $14.99) was the best-selling adult novel of 2001, beating out Grisham's "A Painted House" (Doubleday, $27.95) and "Skipping Christmas" (Doubleday, $19.99).
Now, "Left Behind II: Tribulation Force," based on the second book, returns with virtually all of the main characters reprising their roles for the sequel. This video went on sale in Christian bookstores in late October. It will begin screening nationwide in movie theaters on Dec. 31. A third film is also in the works.
While this marketing strategy is a curious one, it works for this particular niche audience. Churches will be encouraged to help spread the word about "Left Behind II," then encouraged to help rent theater space when the movie run begins.
What is more interesting, though, is how many millions of people nationwide connect with a sci-fi version of the Bible. The Book of Revelation (also known as the Apocalypse) has always been used to predict the end of the world. Like the prophecies of Nostradamus, Revelation is written so symbolically that a single line can be interpreted several ways.
Consequently, the end of the world always seems nigh. Time magazine, in a cover story last summer that ruminated on the Apocalypse, reminded readers that early settlers in America believed if they could purify and perfect this New World, it would trigger Christ's Millennium. Then, prolonged horrors of the Civil War had other Christian leaders believing only the Lord's Second Coming could end the madness.
Out of that time came the concept of the rapture.
It grew to be interpreted as an actual occurrence, when all good Christians would be spontaneously lifted up from their earthly misery and taken straight to heaven.
The "Left Behind" books and movies dramatize what happens in the "Mad Max"-like world of those left behind on Earth after the rapture. Issues of faith create instant problems for the ministers and church faithful who weren't taken up. Some are forced to admit their faith was weak. Others realize they were worshiping God for selfish reasons. They begin finding biblical reasons to hope for a second rapture when they will have a second chance to be with God.
The United Nations is the evil power in these books and movies. The Antichrist is Nicolae Carpathia (Gordon Currie), charismatic leader of the U.N. delegates. He has a calm and deliberate style, making him seem even more sinister.
The hero, Buck Williams (Cameron), is a journalist. He is a young version of Walter Cronkite, a TV anchorman and commentator, the most trusted face seen in the mass media. Buck isn't a Christian at the outset, but he is dedicated to finding the truth.
In "Left Behind II," that search leads him into the murky machinations of Carpathia's hidden agenda.
