Torrent heavens gate

He's the Man Gate of Heaven Terminated World 2. Planet Earth 3. Back From the Dawn 4. On the Edge 5. Children Play 6. Rebel Yell 7. Black Region 8. Animal 9. Noah's Dream Noah's Dream unplugged 2. Planet Earth unplugged 3. The Children Play unplugged 4. In The Mood unplugged 5. Teleshoot 2. Worldmachine 3.

Teleshoot 4. Mastermind 5. I've been a fan of Heaven's Gate since its first release. I've seen it at least half-a-dozen times and have long thought of it as a masterpiece.

So, it was with excitement and a sense of anticipation that I took myself off to see the restored director's cut. To my surprise, I was disappointed on seeing it again and have since revised my estimation of the film. Heaven's Gate touches upon greatness in parts, but overall, lacks the thematic and narrative consistency and the passionate urgency characteristic of a truly great film.

Firstly, two technical problems: The sound quality is diffuse throughout the film, verging on inaudibility at times. Some of this, perhaps, is intentional - a way to mimic the chaos and confusion of history as it is unfolding.

But at key points, one is unable to register what it is the characters are saying. The cinematography is similarly diffuse.

The images lack sharpness and particularity of detail. The result is a certain graininess and lack of pictorial sharpness which succeeds in blurring foreground and background. Structurally, the narrative is off-key throughout, as if Cimino can't quite make up his mind as to the effect he is after.

He wanted an epic, for sure. But a pastoral or dramatic epic? The film sits uneasily and unconvincingly between styles, and perhaps even genres. At times it reminded me of Terrence Malick's 'Days of Heaven' or even 'Elvira Madigan' in its languid pace and elegant scene painting. At other times it threatens to turn into a robust 'western' more akin to 'The Wild Bunch'.

In fact the latter film offers an instructive reference point for an assessment of 'Heaven's Gate' as it shares the same period concern and employs a similar tone of ambivalent nostalgia for a darker yet more heroic America.

This structural and thematic uncertainty isn't helped by the poor-quality script which often sounds forced and jarring to the ear. The result is an inauthentic sense of period speech. The near-greatness of Heaven's Gate resides in its set pieces. The roller skating sequence, in particular, is astoundingly beautiful, one of the most evocative scenes ever put to film. Another set piece which works very well in terms of unifying theme, mood, and setting occurs when Kristofferson and Huppert go riding in the new rig to the lake and she washes herself while he naps in the shade.

The languid pacing, evocative music and monumental scenery combine in this scene to convincingly portray the love story which might just lie at the heart of the film - and which could have been its saving grace if pursued more convincingly. Some critics have complained about the length of the film. This in itself doesn't bother me.

A good film can't be long enough. I like it better than Communion and think it is more relevant. Have you seen this post about the Harvard Chair who thinks we have observations of an alien vessel:. Meanwhile, Greer offers a more "democratic" approach to the Next Level. I can build on that idea. Koresh didn't think he was "the chosen one" but the people who had to cover for the murders of him and his followers want you to think that. I'm pretty sure he would count himself among the faithful, ie.

Why don't you think so? To be clear, I am not saying that either Koresh or Applewhite claimed to be Jesus but Applewhite thought he and his wife were the "two witnesses" in Revelations.

That is part of the reason they called themselves "the two". Similarly, Koresh claimed that god told him which wives to take there's that sex thing again and he also interpreted Biblical references as referring to him. Regardless, you raise an interesting point: what do you consider "original Davidian writings" that has not been doctored by the State or modified by his followers?

I and others here evidently are genuinely interested in the topic and that would be a grand resource to make available and to clearly distinguish from the works about him. Separate from that, what do you consider "fair reporting" on him that was written or assembled by others? I ask because I was also considering putting together a collection on him so this is a good place to start. PPS -- Nice to hear your view! I take it you have more than a passing interest in understanding cults and cult-behavior, too?

I'm pretty sure [Koresh] would count himself among the faithful, ie. He was a devout Christian, but that's not how I interpret the term " the chosen one".

By tracking the development of the history, social structure, and worldview of Heaven's Gate, Zeller draws out the ways in which the movement was both a reflection and a microcosm of larger American culture. The group emerged out of engagement with Evangelical Christianity, the New Age movement, science fiction and UFOs, and conspiracy theories, and it evolved in response to the religious quests of baby boomers, new religions of the counterculture, and the narcissistic pessimism of the s.

Thus, Heaven's Gate not only reflects the context of its environment, but also reveals how those forces interacted in the form of a single religious body.