The Prophecy (1995)

- written March 1999







          Detective Thomas Daggett is looking for meaning in his life. He was lacking faith when he tried to become a priest so now as a police officer he hopes to find it. At a crime scene, a thesis on “Angels in Scripture” is found and Thomas is asked for help. They find a dead body who doesn't appear to be human and a bible chapter which was never supposed to exist. Thomas is quickly caught up into the mess and discovers angels may actually be on this planet - and his faith be indeed be restored. But the Archangel Gabriel has come to Earth to find the darkest “soul” ever, so he can use it to conquer Heaven. There is a war between angels loyal to God and angels who hate to share it with humans. Gabriel knows the darkest soul is of a man recently deceased in Chimney Rock, Arizona, who in the midst of the Korean War regressed into an animal state and collected "souvenirs" from his victims. Now Thomas must go to Arizona and stop the madness and maybe even save humanity.


          Overall: Very good film with a unique spin on religion and the bible. This film took new angles on religion and on horror and backed it up with some awesome acting and even better writing. Viggo Mortensen and Christopher Walken are just plain awesome. They are scary, yet serious and when the two end up doing battle, you have the feeling things are gonna “blow up.” What fascinated me most is the twist of basically indicating that humans are not in control of everything (as we all seem to think we are) but instead merely pawns for everyone else. It’s the fact that regardless of whether people believe in angels, the devil or heaven, those entities exist and don’t care what you think. It’s that we don’t know everything yet and may never know the full truth. It’s really what Daggett’s character says about faith:


          Daggett: In the end, I think it must be about faith, and if faith is a choice, then it can be lost - for a man, an angel, or the devil himself. And if faith is never completely understanding God's plan, maybe understanding a part of it - our part - is what it is to have a soul, and in the end, that's what being human is, after all.


          And that’s what makes the film so great. It’s not gonna answer all our questions but instead will pose theorems for some of it. The film makes you question...makes you wonder, but wants you to believe regardless. I especially liked the discussion of what angels must really be like, using the Bible itself as the evidence.


          Daggett: Did you ever notice how in the Bible, whenever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, he sent an angel? Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood. Would you ever really want to see an angel?

          Daggett: Years later, of all the Gospels I learnt in Seminary school, a verse from St. Paul stays with me. It is perhaps the strangest passage in the bible, in which he writes: Even now in Heaven there are Angels carrying savage weapons.


          It is also the frank nature of the discussion between Gabriel & Simon and then Gabriel and Lucifer, which is the key to the film’s power. It’s the fact that humans have no control and we are stuck with however these creatures work their own situations out.

         
Lucifer: Heaven will become just another Hell, and two Hells is one Hell too many. I can't have that.
Gabriel: This war is mine!
Lucifer: Your war is arrogance. That makes it evil. And that's mine.
Gabriel: Lucifer. Sitting in your basement. Sulking about your breakup with the boss. You're nothing.
Lucifer: Time to come home, Gabriel.


          And finally the frank discussion of what Hell might really be like and how we may lose sight of the true nature of religion and belief:

         
Lucifer: You know what Hell really is Thomas? It's not lakes of burning oil or chains of ice. It's being removed from God's sight. It's hard to believe... so hard.


          It’s a great film that got followed up on by some fairly weak sequels that made the movie more about horror than about story.


          Comparison: City of Angels meets Trancers









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