25/07/2023 - Tonje Hessen Schei's documentary is an unsettling deep dive into the world of Christian evangelical fundamentalists in the USA and how they aim to fulfil the titular prophecy

Watching Tonje Hessen Schei’s latest documentary Praying for Armageddon is, without mincing words, a very disturbing experience. Someone who is well versed in developments in US foreign policy may be less shaken by this picture, but nonetheless, they may still acknowledge how worrying the situation is when they see a group of very young kids – presumably aged under ten – going up on stage. Said scene takes place during a crowded gathering in Lebanon, Kansas, and these poor children clearly appear to have been brainwashed, willing to fight a war their parents and grandparents are backing with prayers and money.

The war in question is one desired by the fundamentalists of the US evangelical movement, who are convinced that they will be saved once Jesus has appeared on horseback in the state of Israel and, with a sword raised to Heaven, has killed all the infidels. For this reason, they carry on backing projects such as the City of David (officially an archaeological project, but in fact just another way of expanding the settlers’ influence over Palestinian territories) and stirring up the tensions between the two parties, and indeed across the whole region.

Hessen Schei’s feature, which world-premiered at this year’s CPH:DOX and was screened in the This Earth section of Akranes’ IceDocs, chooses quite a traditional narrative and aesthetic approach characterised by fast-paced editing, and by her method of alternating archive footage, some talking heads and the invaluable insights of a brave journalist investigating the growth of this movement, Lee Fang of The Intercept. In any case, these few, simple ingredients are more than enough to raise the audience’s awareness of what is at stake.

Besides this, the subjects – or, more accurately, the villains – appearing on screen are disturbingly cinematic. One of them is the omnipresent John Hagee, the founder of the Christian-Zionist organisation Christians United for Israel. The preacher enjoys speaking in front of enthusiastic crowds, his booming voice filled with excitement about the coming end times. Alongside him, there is a slightly more discreet, yet still disturbing, figure – Robert Jeffress, a regular pundit for Fox News and one of Donald Trump’s closest spiritual advisors.

Hessen Schei manages to provide a fairly complete overview of the players involved – leaving the fundamentalists enough room to “explain” their claims, meeting up with their opponents, but also visiting both Israel and Palestine, giving a voice to the victims as well as intellectuals, such as Palestinian journalist Mohamed El Kurd and Jewish Rabbi Arik Ascherman.

“We can’t look away,” says Feng towards the end, alluding to how these extremist movements are growing nationwide and represent a huge threat to world peace. Indeed, peace is a concept that these people refuse to believe in – on the contrary, they wish to embark on a final, deadly crusade. Feng also reminds us that their top executives have strong ties with the army and are the ones who have privileged access to the US presidents, constantly “whispering in their ears”.

Praying for Armageddon was produced by UpNorth Film (Norway) in co-production with Ventana Film (Germany), Making Movies (Finland), Auto Images (Sweden) and Film i Skåne (Sweden). DR Sales is in charge of the doc’s world sales.