WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON
By turns frightening, fascinating and eye-opening, this documentary (★★★) offers much to rouse followers of various religious and political stripes. Though the film's structure hangs on the biblically foretold, world-destroying-then-renewing phases of Rapture, Tribulation, Armageddon and Millennium -- and is set mainly in Israel, where it is believed Jesus will return for a 1,000-year reign -- it also serves as an absorbing snapshot of America's evangelical Christian movement. What most concerns co-directors Kate Davis, Franco Sacchi and David Heilbroner is the power of evangelical commitment to certain long-held -- some might say extreme -- principles, along with how these beliefs factor into ostensibly average folks' daily lives and, at times, affect the American sociopolitical system. It's an ambitious yet compactly presented approach. (1:30, 4 & 7 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 4 & 7 p.m. Mon.-Thu., St. Anthony Main.)
GARY GOLDSTEIN, LOS ANGELES TIMES
