
In Bishop, a town filled with secrets, the three Simon sisters, Belle, Rachel, & Jessa, are trying to cope with their mother’s absence and maintain a normal life. Silently repressing them is Rick, their damaged father who, adrift himself, is growing increasingly obsessed with The Rapture that he believes is imminent. With home anything but a refuge, the sisters must cling to one another to survive.
‘If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.’
We are introduced to this family, which we hear throughout the narration understand what they have been through. The mom left, the church had started to look at them differently, and he started to challenge and wrestle with his faith.
As Rick begins to fall deeper into despair, he hears a pastor preach on the television, basically selling the idea of God and in the way of which you sign up others and push them in the direction of God. Rachel, the first of the three sisters, states that she refuses to fail into this trap and help them recruit others, so Rick throws her out.
Next, we see Rick send the kids door to door to sell the idea of God and how they need to accept him because the rapture is coming. For me, the way that Rick is losing is his mind “quote and quote” is something intriguing to watch. He is lost and unsure of what to do as he is raising these three girls on his own and sold on the rapture idea. It makes the mystique of what’s traveling throughout his head relatable in specific ways. You feel empathy for him and also don’t like the guy—fantastic writing by the crew here.
Although the film seems relatively easy to follow at this point, I am not a fan of how it weaves in and out of these particular circumstances. The lack of focus on the film’s key areas can make you lose your emotional connection to what is transpiring.
In conclusion, I feel like the ending was a big swing and a miss. There were so many ways this film could have gone to reach the climax, and it went somewhere that left a sour taste in your mouth and not in a good way.
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