Gregg Brinkley | Through the Shattered Lens

1999’s The Moment After opens with the world in a panic. Millions of people have suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving only their clothes and their loved ones behind. On a news program, three expects are brought in to discuss what might have happened. A New Age-y woman argues that “Mother Earth” is eliminating overpopulation. A wild-eyed man argues that people have been abducted by UFOs. And finally, a man with a neatly trimmed beard argues that it’s the rapture. The bearded man is dismissed as being a crank.

Two FBI agents — Adam Riley (David A.R. White) and Charles Baker (Kevin Downes) — are assigned to investigate the disappearances. Charles is himself shaken because he knew a few people who disappeared. As they drive around the city and talk to people, they hear the same story. People who went to church regularly and were Christian vanished while their less faithful loved ones watched. Adam comes to suspect that there might be something to the Rapture Theory. Charles, bitter because his wife recently suffered a miscarriage, has no time for it.

As often happens in a crisis, the government grows heavy-handed and sinister. The President announced that he’s going to follow the lead of Europe and “suggest” that everyone get a chip implanted in their hand. Charles gets the chip without hesitation. Adam keeps finding excuses to put it off, even though he’s mandated to get one as a federal employee. With the country turning into an authoritarian dystopia, Charles and Adam are assigned to track down a renegade preacher (Brad Heller), who is telling his followers not to get chipped.

Stories about the end time have always been popular when it comes to faith-based films. A lot of that is because the Book of Revelations is written in such a way that there’s a lot of different ways that one can interpret it. As a result, it’s always interesting to see how “the mark of the Beast,” will be represented in these films. Sometimes, it’s a tattoo. Sometimes, it’s an invisible mark that only demons can see. In this one, it’s a chip that works as a credit card. And while it’s easy to scoff at this film’s conspiracy theories and the shots of people staring at their palms, some of us still remember how, during the COVID lockdowns, there were more than a few people in positions of influence who argued that the citizenry shouldn’t be allowed in stores or restaurants or anywhere else unless they could show proof they had gotten the vaccine and kept up with the boosters. There were even some who said that the National Guard should go door-to-door and force the shot on people. (For the record, I did get the vaccine but, when I started hearing about monthly boosters and all that other stuff, I decided that one shot was more than enough for me.) There is definitely an authoritarian impulse out there, one that comes out whenever there’s a crisis. One reason why films like this one continue to find an audience is because real-life governments often behave like the dictatorship portrayed in The Moment After. Of course, in the movie, everyone can at least say they were influenced by the Devil. In real life, it just comes down to pettiness and a need to tell other people what to do.

As for The Moment After, it’s a low-budget but fairly well-done thriller, one that keeps the preaching to a minimum and doesn’t feature a lot of the problematic elements that one tends to find in movies like this. White and Downes both give effective performances. It avoids the histrionics that tend to define a lot of other apocalyptic films. This is not a film that’s going to convert anyone but it does a good enough job creating an atmosphere of paranoia and growing dread that it works as a thriller.

In 2010’s Holyman Undercover, David A.R. White plays Roy. Roy is an 18 year-old Amish dude from Kansas. It’s time for him to experience Rumspringa, a period in which he can live life amongst “the English” and decide whether or not he wants to commit to being Amish. Roy decides to go Los Angeles so he can track down his uncle and work with him as a missionary.

Roy struggles in Los Angeles. Giving money to one homeless man leads to him nearly getting mugged. When he meets his uncle, he discovers that Brian (also played by David A.R. White) is now a struggling actor who has a taste for cocaine. (Brian claims that he’s a holyman working undercover.) Accompanying Brian to an audition leads to Roy getting cast as Satan on a primetime soap opera. His wife is played by vapid supermodel Tiffany Towers (Jennifer Lyons). Meanwhile, the show’s producer is a former country girl named Annie (Andrea Logan White) and soon, Roy is having fantasies about Annie dressing up like an Amish woman and dancing in a field with him. However, the head of the network (Fred Willard) wants Roy to date Tiffany because it’ll be good publicity for the show.

Throughout it all, Roy remains innocent and confused about the modern world. He’s never watched television. He doesn’t know how to use a phone. He doesn’t understand what a credit card is. He’s earnest and honest to a fault and, even after Tiffany makes out with him, he continues to insist that he only has eyes for Annie.

Of course, in reality, I imagine that the typical Amish person knows how to use a phone. I imagine that they probably also know what a television is and they probably even understand that you’re expected to pay your credit card debt. The Amish may choose to reject a good deal of the modern world but that doesn’t mean that they don’t know what the modern world is. But this film isn’t meant to be a realistic portrayal of the Amish or of Hollywood or of really anything.

Indeed, I’m not really sure what to make of this film. It’s faith-based and it ends with Roy delivering a simple message about loving others but the film’s humor is often rather mean-spirited and there’s several jokes that are more than a little racist and homophobic. (Japanese tourists take pictures while shouting, “Godzilla!” When Brian ends up in jail, his cellmate is a hulking black man who says his name is Beef because “it’s what’s for dinner.”) David A.R. White is not bad as Roy but his performance as Brian is incredibly shrill and there’s really no reason, beyond ego, for director White to have cast himself in both roles.

Probably the best thing that one can say about the film is that the name actors — Fred Willard, Clint Howard, Edie McClurg, and Staci Keanan — all manage to survive with their dignity intact. Indeed, the highlight of the film is, believe it or not, John Schneider earnestly playing himself as the actor who replaces Roy as Satan and who then promptly launches a presidential campaign. “The country’s going to Hell anyway!” he says, with just the right amount of self-awareness.

Interestingly enough, the film does end with one particularly prophetic scene, as Roy and Annie leave Hollywood to produce an Amish dating show. Tiffany moves with them to the farm and a group of Amish men compete for her hand in marriage. Farmer Wants A Wife, anyone?