Premium Episode 160: Left Behind (2014) Movie Night (Sample)
Nick Cage faces the rapture and we look into the brain behind the original "Left Behind" book series series: Pastor Tim LaHaye. We also chat about why Nick Cage stooped to this level (it's related to the purchase of a dinosaur skull). Our guest is Allie Mezei.
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Episode music by Pontus Berghe. Editing by Corey Klotz.
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Welcome, listener, to Premium Chapter 160 of the QAnon Anonymous podcast, the Movie Night Left Behind 2014 episode.
As always, we are your hosts, Julian Field, Liv Aker, Ali Mazzi, and Travis View.
There is no written intro for this episode because...
The series of images I was subjected to were sufficiently disordered that I felt the need to disrespect it up front.
We are gathered here with No Jake, which is very interesting.
I think he's going to be kind of with us in spirit because this is a movie that he probably would have enjoyed.
I'm shocked we're watching a terrible movie without Jake.
But we have backup.
Allie Mezzi, the QAA lawyer.
What's up, Allie?
Not much.
Lost stuff.
Liv, how you doing?
I'm holding together a little bit less because of this film.
Absolutely.
And Travis, stoic as always, you seem to have enjoyed the movie, based on your satisfied and calm face.
You know, it could have been worse, but it was, yeah, it was pretty bad.
A lot of people reached out immediately now that they know that we were covering this and said, hey, why aren't you covering the other one?
Well, we chose the Nick Cage one because I think it's way funnier that they got Nick Cage to be in this.
This is maybe, yeah, one of the highest profile Christian films that is outrageously and overtly Christian and hilarious.
So first we're going to explore the books on which this movie is based.
That's Travis.
He's going to lead us through that.
I believe Ali has gathered some lawyerly information on why Nick Cage did this movie in the first place.
And we're going to lead you through a series of these scenes in an attempt to describe what's happening.
But this was a I have to say, one of my favorite movies that we watched.
One of the most cartoonish.
So I won't be being too much of a negative Nancy in this one, hopefully.
So, yeah.
Welcome, listeners.
Welcome.
And turn back now.
Turn back while you still can.
We're burying the lead that we're all born-again Christians after watching it.
Yeah, well, yeah, we all converted.
Oh, for sure, yeah, because it seemed- well, we'll talk about it, but it doesn't seem like there's- like, no one's coming back for a second round there, huh?
They just have to hang out on Earth for, like, seven years in the darkness after- I don't know, if you don't know, if you don't know, listener, this movie's about the Rapture, and, uh, it is- it is listed as a kind of, um, thriller and, uh, mystery.
But there is absolutely nothing thrilling about this movie whatsoever.
No, because you know right up front, because, like, they're having Christian movie conversations, like, scene one, and so you're like, okay, the- It's obviously going to be a thing about Christians, or why Christianity is going to be the key to unlock the mystery.
So they try to slow play that shit for like an hour plus.
They even do like detective Eureka moments and shit.
Right, that's so excruciating to me.
No one doesn't know what you're doing here, folks.
There has to be like some joy the intended audience is getting from watching them, like these non-believers put it together, right?
I'm assuming?
I would kill, because there has to be a set of people out there that watch this movie, and at like one hour and ten minutes were like, oh fuck, it's the Rapture!
Like, you know?
Like for them it really was a mystery movie.
And if that is you, and you are out there, like reach out, because I want to study your brain and put it in a jar for science.
Because I love you.
Alright, Travis, take us away with some background here.
Sure, yes.
So, left behind, I think first, the first thing I think is worth mentioning that this film was directed by a man named Vic Armstrong, who does have some actually pretty impressive credentials in the film industry.
Most of his credits are For acting as a stunt double and a stunt coordinator.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, he's actually the most prolific stunt coordinator or stunt double in film history.
And he's worked on a lot of mainstream films, like Amazing Spider-Man, Terminator 2, and lots of other films.
But for this, I don't know.
I thought there would be a lot more impressive stunts, if that's his sort of forte in this film.
Yeah, there were maybe zero stunts, like, mostly because the entire thing is in a mall, in a parking lot, in a plane, and in a house.
Like, there is very little street action.
Other than some right around the time of the Rapture, there's some fun action.
There is.
There are people, like, dodging, like, planes and cars and stuff, diving out of the way.
So yeah, there's some stunt action.
Not Terminator 2 level, but yeah, there is some.
No, definitely not.
Left Behind is based upon the highly successful book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.
Before Tim LaHaye's death at age 90 in 2016, he was one of the most influential figures in American evangelical Christianity.
He was an evangelical minister in Southern California for decades before turning to politics in the 70s.
In 1972, Lehé helped found the Institute for Creation Research in El Cajon, California.
And this was an organization that helped produce materials promoting Young Earth Creationism.
Amazing.
In 1981, Lehé helped found the secretive right-wing think tank, the Council for National Policy, or the CNP.
Which now counts many right-wing shitheads as its members, including Eric Prince and Charlie Kirk.
So yeah, so another great legacy he left behind.
Lahaye also had connections to the Unification Church, or the Moonies.
He accepted money from Moonie operative Bo He Pak and joined the Moonie Front organization, the Council for Religious Freedom.
It shouldn't be surprising to learn that Lahaye was aggressively homophobic, having written a book in 1978 titled The Unhappy Gaze.
Damn, man.
That sounds like a good sitcom.
LeHay was also an old-school conspiracist, believing that there was a plot from the Illuminati to undermine Christianity.
He said this.
"I myself have been a 45-year student of the satanically inspired centuries-old conspiracy
to use government, education, and media to destroy every vestige of Christianity within
our society and establish a new world order.
Having read at least 50 books on the Illuminati, Jesus Christ."
I've read at least 60.
Wow.
Wow.
Everyone's really taking out their dicks.
I am convinced that it exists and can be blamed for many of man's inhumane actions against his fellow man during the past 200 years.
It's really, it's that unbelievable that we're assholes to each other?
What explained man's inhumane action to man before that?
Scrawlings on the wall.
The guts of birds.
Now through his life, LaHaye wrote dozens of books on like prophecy and Bible interpretation and self-help and marriage and stuff.
But he really made his mark on pop culture with the publication of the Left Behind series.
The book series started in 1995 with the publication of Left Behind, a novel of Earth's last days.
He and his co-author would go on to publish 15 sequels and prequels.
The series reportedly sold 65 million copies.
But, like, is it really the last days?
Like, it's the last days for the Christians, and then they go to heaven, and the others apparently have to stick around for, like, seven fucking years and shit, and, like, it's unclear if there's gonna be an Eschaton, or... Well, and then there's a thousand years after that, so, I mean, it's part of the, you know, the sequence of events of the last days.
Damn, dude.
So, Left Behind follows a group of Americans through the days of the rapture.
And this occurs shortly after an Israeli botanist wins the Nobel Prize for devising a way to grow crops in the desert, thereby making Israel a self-sustained trading partner with its neighbors and bringing peace to the Middle East.
Oh, they just needed some irrigation!
It's like, the two things that Israel-Palestine need is to study the song Imagine by John Lennon, and they need a smart botanist, and the conflict will be resolved.
Hasn't Israel helped Egypt with irrigation stuff?
I think it's been a pioneer in that for a while.
I think so, yeah.
Well, not good enough.
They need a longer hose.
They weren't talking to the plants, you know?
It wasn't about the inner life of the plant, which is what's important.
In the series of events that follows, the Antichrist, who is a charismatic young Romanian leader named Nicolae Carpathia, consolidates currency and erases national borders through the United Nations.
Wait, there was like a villain in the book, man?
They fucking deprived us of this!
Oh, if you watch the Kirk Cameron ones, he's very present.
Yeah.
Oh my god.
I really need more literature that's like racist against Romanian people.
I feel like that's such a niche.
So true.
Last name Carpathia.
You can just go to Hungry.
Carpathia.
In the book, eventually all survivors are brought together under the Mark of Loyalty, which is a biochip inserted in the hand or forehead that allows one to purchase food, and a tattoo, which is the Mark of the Beast.
So, you know, one world government, Mark of the Beast stuff.
And honestly, it's way cooler.
All that geopolitical stuff is not present in the film that we watched for this episode.
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