My journey of faith has been a tumultuous one, to say the least, and Alexa and Stephen Kinigopoulos’ feature film, Fishbowl, stirred up a lot of old memories. In 1988, a book was published called 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988. Even as a devout Christian at that time, I never took that stuff seriously, but I know those who did and swore I’d never become one of those. I read stories of people who sold their homes, cashed out their lives, somehow thinking they could spend it all in heaven. Then nothing happened.
Fishbowl is the story of three sisters Belle (Belle Shickle), Rachel (Emily Peachy), and Jessa (Caroline Coleman), and their father, Rick (Rick Kain), who lost his wife years before in an unfortunate accident. Rick plummeted into despair, and his faith wavered between belief and disbelief. With dad out of commission, the sisters turn to one another for comfort and guidance while alienating themselves from the rest of the world.
“Rick will need to raise and donate a thousand dollars to the preacher to ensure they are caught up as the angelic trumpets blow.”
As the girls attend the town’s Christian high school, they become the subject of gossip and bullying. Rick experiences the same conflicts in everyday life, as well. The best way to describe the family is that everyone knows something is seriously wrong, but no one is willing to talk about it. Life in the “fishbowl” that is their town, there’s nowhere they can run to escape.
When a television preacher convinces Rick that Jesus’ return and the rapture will happen in several days, the story heads into dark territory. Rick will need to raise and donate a thousand dollars to the preacher to ensure they are caught up as the angelic trumpets blow. Rick resolves not only to raise the money needed for the preacher but also to ensure his daughters’ behavior falls in line and that they start living righteous lives.
"…a dark story of extreme religious faith and beautifully told."
