Cable network news reporter Buck Williams is on location in Israel, where researcher Chaim Rosenzweig has discovered a new means of making even the most inhospitable ground fertile enough to grow crops, a discovery that could bring prosperity to the entire world. But this moment is shattered when fighter jets from a neighboring Arab nation attack Israel - and then mysteriously disintegrate in mid-air. Once he returns to the U.S., Buck meets a conspiracy-theorist contact who claims that there's a connection between the still unexplained events in the Middle East, and international bankers Stonegal and Cothran, about whom he has been warning Buck for months. Buck is skeptical of his friend's theory and puts it out of his mind. But the biggest story of the new millennium rocks everyone, including Buck, back on their heels - the inexplicable spontaneous disappearance of millions of people around the world. Young children, elderly people, and a seemingly random cross-section of the population have all vanished - and they don't seem to be coming back. The common thread the ties the missing people together is more of a revelation than anyone can imagine - but by the time Buck realizes what has happened, it's already too late for those who were left behind.

Left Behind has caused a lot of controversy ever since its pre-theatrical video premiere (one of the oddest and - financially speaking - most suicidal distribution plans I've ever seen for a movie). As is generally known, Left Behind is unmistakably a full-blast Christian movie, with a dash of X-Files thrown in for good measure. But even in Christian circles, there is much debate over whether or not Left Behind is how the message should be delivered. And then there's a contingent of fans of the popular series of novels who complain that the film altered or omitted too many details of the books.

But that's the buzz. Where the movie itself is concerned, I found it very enjoyable. I was amazed to find myself enjoying Kirk Cameron's performance; I never liked the guy during his sitcom days, but his sincere portrayal of Buck Williams sold me on the movie. If I had one regret, it is that Clarence Gilyard Jr.'s excellent portrayal of a pastor who finds himself still walking among mortals after the Rapture went largely unexplored. If there's a single character who demanded more development, that was it. High marks also go to Gordon Currie, whose character ran the gamut from sympathetic to positively creepy. The penultimate scene of the movie was exceedingly dark, which brings me to my next point.

I've long been a harsh critic of attempts by Christian broadcasters and filmmakers to do drama. Drama sometimes involves unpleasant realities, but most of the outlets for which those dramas are designed won't take material that's not squeaky clean. They do not accurately depict the struggles that most of us actually deal with in day-to-day life, and that shortchanges and cheats the audience which is looking for a meaningful message to take away from the experience. Your beliefs cannot be strengthened unless they are challenged - and you continue to hold them. Left Behind is a refreshing change of pace for the genre, complete with a nutty (but wise) conspiracy theorist, a main character who is having an affair, car bombs, and many other things that you're just not going to see on The Family Channel. Some punches were still pulled, especially in the crowd panic scenes (you'd be hearing a lot more profanity in real life), but those are acceptable places to reign in reality.

It does fall behind to some common maladies of religious storytelling, namely the characters who suddenly profess their faith Just In Time, or from apparent atheists and agnostics who suddenly swing their theological pendulum to being born again within two hours. But there are also just as many characters who don't budge at all in that sense, so there is some measure of realism there. Even in the face of these events, there would still be those who wouldn't alter their beliefs at all.

An orchestral score buoys the film in many key moments, which is more than I would've hoped for in a feature on a very limited budget. And in many other places, the low budget on which the movie was shot isn't readily apparent on screen. That takes planning and talent.

Despite the controversy over Left Behind among both Christians and non-Christians, I actually liked the movie. Call me a sucker for the underdogs, but I genuinely liked it. I was gripped by it. As Rapture scenarios go, I thought it was played out realistically, though there's the usual argument that nobody knows exactly how the book of Revelations will unfold. Despite that, this movie doesn't suffer from the forced, watered-down-after-school-special feeling one usually gets from a Christian drama. I'm convinced that the point of the movie was to challenge Christians and non-Christians alike with a thorny question. Would you vanish...or be left behind? I asked myself that question...and found myself wondering and worrying a bit. That's a much more satisfying and engaging approach for this kind of story than the usual tactic of hitting 'em over the head with the message and preaching to the converted. It's obviously a Christian movie, but not a sickly sweet one - and thus it works, because life ain't that way. Not even for believers.

It's a thought-provoking movie, and I actually hoped for a sequel the first time I saw it, as long as the intensity of the original could be maintained. I'm unapologetically a fan of this movie. And apparently it was just enough of a box office success - and generated enough buzz - to live on: a television series based on the movie and books is in the works to begin airing on Pax TV later this year or in 2002, depending on the outcome of the expected writers' and actors' strikes this summer. The same writers and producers behind the film are helming the television version, though no word has yet been announced on casting. Hopefully the key players in the movie will sign up for the series.

(Oh, and for those who are already lining up their complaints about how out-of-place this movie is among other films previously reviewed here... let's see. There is a connection to the rest of this site's content: one of the producers of Left Behind was Ralph Winter, who produced or co-produced most of the Star Trek movies set in the classic era. So there.)

• screenplay by Alan B. McElroy, Joe Goodman and Paul Lalonde
• directed by Victor Sarin
• music by James Covell
• Cast: Kirk Cameron (Buck Williams), Brad Johnson (Rayford Steele), Janaya Stephens (Chloe Steele), Clarence Gilyard Jr. (Bruce Barnes), Colin Fox (Chaim Rosenzweig), Gordon Currie (Nicolae Carpathia), Daniel Pilon (Jonathan Stonegal), Chelsea Noble (Hattie Durham), Krista Bridges (Ivy Gold), Jack Langedijk (Dirk Burton), Tony De Santis (Joshua Cothan), Neil Crone (Ken Ritz), Robert Levine (Old Man), Sten Eirik (Flattop/Carl), Thomas Hauff (Steve Plank), Marvin Ishmael (Firzhugh), Philip Akin (Alan Tompkins), Tufford Kennedy (Husband on Plane), Christie MacFadyen (Irene), Alan Rosenthal (Soldier #1), Jay Manchester (Raymie), Christine Donato (Wife/Mother), Lillian Lewis (Old Drunk Lady), Bishop T.D. Jakes (Pastor Billings, David Blacker (Big Man on Plane), Marion Bennett (Young Girl on Plane), Steve Behal (Zombie Man), David Macniven (Chris), Stacie Fox (Young Mother on Road), Thea Andrews (Media Relations Officer), Chris Gillett (Eric Miller), Terry Samuels (General), Richard Hardacre (Tall Man), Rufus Crawford (Security Guard #1), Sherry Hilliard (News Anchor), Regan Moore (Passenger), Raven Dauda (Gloria), Fran Elliot (Elderly Woman), Peter Loung (Washroom Attendant), Katherine Trowell (Woman in Green Blouse), Tony Curtis Blondell (Security Guard #2), Rebecca St. James (Buck's Assistant), Bob Carlisle (GNN Reporter), Clay Crosse (U.N. Security Guard #1), Josh Penner (U.N. Security Guard #2), Marty Penner (U.N. Security Guard #3), Toby Penner (U.N. Security Guard #4), Ava van Heerden (Very Attractive Baby)