"Revelations" (2005) TV mini-series

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Creator:

David Seltzer

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

13 April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Omnium finis imminet. The end is here.

Plot:

Just before the start of Armageddon, a physicist and a nun race against the clock to see if the end of the world apocalypse can be averted.

Plot Keywords:

Nun | Mother Superior | TV Mini-Series

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Bill Pullman	...	Dr. Richard Massey (6 episodes, 2005)
Natascha McElhone	...	Sister Josepha Montafiore (6 episodes, 2005)
Michael Massee	...	Isaiah Haden (6 episodes, 2005)
Mark Rendall	...	Henry 'Hawk' Webber (6 episodes, 2005)
Chelsey Coyle	...	Olivia 'Livvie' Beaudrey (6 episodes, 2005)
Brittney Coyle	...	Olivia 'Livvie' Beaudrey (6 episodes, 2005)
John Rhys-Davies	...	Professor Lampley (6 episodes, 2005)
Orla Brady	...	Nora Webber (6 episodes, 2005)
Alexa Nikolas	...	Lucy Massey (6 episodes, 2005)
Tobin Bell	...	Nathan Volk (5 episodes, 2005)
Martin Starr	...	Mark Rubio (5 episodes, 2005)
Fred Durst	...	Ogden (5 episodes, 2005)
Caryn Green	...	Tulia (5 episodes, 2005)
Fionnula Flanagan	...	Mother Francine (4 episodes, 2005)
Jesper Christensen	...	Torvald Eklind (4 episodes, 2005)
Paul Venables	...	Tom Webber (4 episodes, 2005)
Jonathan Whittaker	...	Nelson Boyd (4 episodes, 2005)
Winter Ave Zoli	...	Anna-Theresa (4 episodes, 2005)
Clémence Poésy	...	E.C. (3 episodes, 2005)
Christopher Biggins	...	Cardinal Laveigh (3 episodes, 2005)
Werner Daehn	...	Asteroth (3 episodes, 2005)
Scott Williams	...	Prison Guard / ... (3 episodes, 2005)
Patrick Bauchau	...	Dr. Daniel Goran (2 episodes, 2005)
Davenia McFadden	...	Sister Delise (2 episodes, 2005)
Joel Polis	...	Hospital Administrator (2 episodes, 2005)
James Bigwood	...	Prison Chaplain (2 episodes, 2005)
Anne Katrine Bay Ejlersen	...	Super Model #1 (2 episodes, 2005)
Karen Sofie Bay Ejlersen	...	Super Model #2 (2 episodes, 2005)
Jeff Smith	...	Prison Gate Guard (2 episodes, 2005)
Robert Polo	...	Court TV Reporter / ... (2 episodes, 2005)

Runtime:

43 min (6 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Matera, Basilicata, Italy

Company:

NBC Enterprises

Trivia:

A freeze frame of the articles that Dr. Massey looks up about Sister Josepha online reveal the following things about her: Her younger sister's name was Denise They were abandoned as infants She and her sister grew up at an orphanage in New South Wales called The Lord's House Sister Josepha got her bachelor's degree at Kings Theological Seminary in Ottawa, Canada and graduated with valedictory honors She went on to attend the Oxford School of Advanced Religions Studies at Oxford College in England Her sister Denise joined the following of a self-proclaimed messiah and committed suicide along with the rest of the cult.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Romanian documents shown are written in Cyrillic letters, but the Romanians use the Latin alphabet.

Quotes:

Isaiah Haden: [Isaiah is on a plane experiencing turbulence] 3... 2... 1...
[he snaps his fingers, the turbulence stops immediately after]
Isaiah Haden: Coincidence? You'll never know.

It's the End of the World... and I feel fine

REVIEW: Wed + Sun 9pm NBC: "It's as probable for a tornado traveling through a junkyard to produce Buckingham Palace than for life to emerge from the Big Bang," says the teacher at the start of Revelations… and he's the scientist. The series, produced by Omen maker David Seltzer is relatively well done, with the likable Bill Pullman playing a scientist whose daughter has been kidnapped and murdered by a Satanist who excised her heart in a ritual sacrifice. Pullman goes to Chile and helps capture the fiend, and later is confronted by a Nun (the unworldly Natasha McElhone – the wife in Solaris) whose sister has died in an apocalyptic cult in Africa, and who drags him to the bedside of a young brain dead Florida girl who was hit by lightning. Of course, this girl is talking.. in Latin, and it's about the end of the world. Evil secular doctors are eager to harvest her organs while the Sister's foundation staves them off (doctors love to pull the plug on speaking patients). The girl draws a stick figure (with ancient writing) that is the same as Pullman's daughter used to. The parallels with the Schiavo circus are probably coincidental, but jarring. Signs abound: a shadow of Jesus on the cross on a Mexican cliff, a lone child pulled from floating wreckage of a Greek ferry, the Satanist chopping his finger off without bleeding.

I personally love these apocalyptic movies, but feel this is in so many ways a sop to the religious right, whose penetration into government is alarming. It feeds the creationist fervor, the cheap exploitive political acts behind the Schiavo carnival of fools. At the first meeting the Sister wisely advises the dubious Pullman to start contributing to religion. "All the signs and symbols are currently in place for the end of days." They allow Pullman to visit the killer of his daughter in prison, dubiously unmonitored, who chops his finger off in the feeding slot, and doesn't bleed. This sends Pullman on a quest for the answers, being dragged kicking and screaming towards the Truth, like Gregory Peck so long ago in The Omen (actually saw that world premiere in LA). Portentous Bible quotes start each section. When the girl dies, Pullman holds her hand, and she.. awakes. Personally I don't think we should rush this apocalypse business- some nightmare virus may make it real for hundreds of millions soon enough. Not as intense as I thought, but then NBC isn't cable. Rating: 6 out of 10