Waiting for Armageddon: movie review

‘Waiting for Armageddon’ documentary examines the beliefs of the 50-million strong evangelical community who believe the biblical prophecy is imminent.

The advertising tag line for “Waiting for Armageddon” states that “50 million Americans believe that the End of the World is just the beginning.” This documentary about the evangelical belief in biblical prophecy is both overly ambitious and skimpy. The directors – Kate Davis, Franco Sacchi, and David Heilbroner – hook up with a Christian study tour group to Israel, where the tourists are baptized in the Jordan River and sing “America the Beautiful” at the Sea of Galilee. At an evangelical conference in Dallas, Texas minister John Hagee, referencing our current worldly woes, declares that “World War III has started.” Despite the filmmakers’s halfhearted attempts to show otherwise, there doesn’t appear to be much evidence that Evangelicals represent a voting bloc powerful enough to actually ignite that war. Grade: C+