Title: Apocalypse 2012: The World After Time Ends
Genre: Conspiracy, Prophecy, End Times
Production Company: Reality Films
Apocalypse 2012: The World After Time Ends is a bit of a mind-bender. Just when you think you can forget about the world’s problems, sit down and have a nice cup of tea, along comes Reality Films with this engaging, sometimes disturbing film.
The premise of Apocalypse 2012 is that the Earth is alive, a living organism. Hippies from the 70s or students from the 80s might remember James Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis. Or maybe Lewis Thomas’ The Lives of a Cell. These two scientists have their differences, but both agree that the Earth looks like it’s some kind of self-regulating, living system.
That’s a nifty idea, but Apocalypse 2012 takes it to a whole new level. A panoply of elders, sages and unorthodox thinkers all seem to be saying that the Earth doesn’t just look alive. It is alive—and not just as a simple organism or self-adjusting system.
Many of the film’s speakers believe that Mother Earth is a conscious entity, one that demands payback for terrestrial abuses. So 911, for instance, wasn’t caused by a single group of extremists but, rather, by our collective exploitation of the planet. We’ve been treating the Earth as a money making resource instead of seeing it as a source of life. And this, according to the film, is an unforgivable no-no just asking for planetary retribution where countless people get hurt and die.
Pretty heavy stuff. I started to feel a bit glum after the first hour. So I paused the DVD and went out to do some shopping. (Food shopping that is, and thank God I didn’t drive a SUV or the roads might have cracked before me..!).
Okay, honestly, I struggled a bit with this film. Part of me felt it was naive but another part sensed that it was important. At least, important for me to see at the time.
On the plus side, 2012’s archival footage and editing are amazing. It’s worth watching for that alone. And the soundtrack is effective. Also, its eclectic mix of speakers aren’t identified until after the show is done, which is a great idea. This sort of levels the playing field so we hear what’s being said without prejudging on the basis of credentials or honorary titles. (I hope that’s vague enough to avoid a spoiler!).
On the not so great side, the DVD offers a simplistic view of history that seems to glorify a distant, golden age that most likely never was (unless one takes Adam and Eve and other creation stories literally). The industrial revolution is portrayed as the Big Bogey Man that’s chasing us toward our collective downfall. But what about the Black Death of the Middle Ages, and various other lethal diseases spread by contaminated water in ancient and medieval society? All this happened well before the industrial revolution.
Having said that, can we really deny that the 21st century is dangerously imbalanced, globally speaking? The news media tells us that so-called mental illnesses are on the rise, as are the environmentally polluting drugs manufactured to treat them (most people forget that man-made medications, now matter how nicely they’re presented by pharmaceutical marketing agencies, are constantly being urinated back into the water supply). And as 2012 rightly says, the oil supply will eventually run out. Not even the Canadian oil sands are limitless.
But as to what happens next, I disagree with some of the film’s more gloomy pundits. I’m no gambler but would be willing to bet that God allows us to continue only so far on our haphazard course until we come up with better solutions. Technology isn’t necessarily the problem. We just need to develop better technologies, as many green companies already are (ask Neil Young if you don’t believe me).
I mean, where would we be without electricity? Just think of music. No Chuck Berry and “Johnny B. Goode.” No synthesizers or digital keyboards. No Close to the Edge or Fragile by Yes. Come on. Obviously this blending of art and technology was meant to be. True, those classic 70s albums warn us, as does 2012, to take stock of our situation and make a better world. But, again, I believe God knows what’s going on, and won’t let us slide too far without giving us the necessary light and practical conditions to make that change happen. In the worst case scenario, a lot of people might go insane, murder, die or commit suicide. But the whole human race won’t.
Apocalypse 2012 was probably also meant to be, a DVD that uses all sorts of high tech gadgets and natural resources to get its message across. But just because something is meant to be doesn’t mean that I agree with everything it says. To be fair, though, the second hour affected me more positively than the first. I could feel it working away on my opinions, shaking my proverbial cage, and compelling me to reflect.
And that’s exactly what this film sets out to do.
—MC
Related articles
- Timely Novel Reveals Apocalypse 2012: Bad Weather Portends Global Disaster (prweb.com)
- 2012 Movie Spurns Futurist to Give 10 Practical Tips for Surviving the Apocalypse (prweb.com)
- Zombie Apocalypse 2012: Vodoo and the Magic Zombee Spell (waitingonthenewmoon.wordpress.com)
- Maya scholar uses 11/11/11 predictions to teach critical thinking (scienceblog.com)
- 11/11/11: Anthropologist debunks doomsday myths (eurekalert.org)
- Rapture hype (and humor) resurrected (cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com)
- 2012 According to the Maya (stickingpoints.wordpress.com)
Earthpages.org 
I was taught to always follow your heart. called inner vision, the voice of God within you. I was taught there is a larger life force, the Force, or the Spirit-that-moves-through-all-things. Now, this spirit as all spirit thinks, feels etc. It is intrinsic but also made up of every other living thing on the planet. Picture a huge flock of birds to symbolize the global consciousness, humans and the Earth included. follow?
My heart, my inner vision tells me this planet is ill, made that way by human abuses and a human consciousness that denies our own connection with the Earth. We are all guilty as a species of violating the laws of creation, ie population and natural resources, abuse and exploitation of the Earth’s and thus God’s gifts. Ungratefulness, no conservation of energy, no balance. We’ve been overlords and not gardeners/stewards as intended.
There will come a reckoning as when a population of deer become too large, the result being disease, famine, adjustment. I fear in the human population a shrinking of resources would result in self inflicted pain, war, violence, apocalypse.
These events need not be separate from biblical events nor mayan, hopi prophesies; though is takes imagination to hold all that.
I feel the bottom line…No One knows the time place nor circumstances. Our souls are living in the here and now for a reason. Trust and train yourself to listen to and follow your heart, your inner vision. Everything else will take care of itself.
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