Ticket to Heaven

Ticket to Heaven
DVD cover
Directed by	Ralph L. Thomas
Produced by	Alan Simmonds Vivienne Leebosh Ronald Cohen
Written by	Josh Freed Anne Cameron Ralph L. Thomas
Starring	Nick Mancuso Saul Rubinek Meg Foster Kim Cattrall Christopher Britton
Music by	Micky Erbe Maribeth Solomon
Cinematography	Richard Leiterman
Editing by	Ron Wisman
Distributed by	Miracle Films Ltd (Canada), United Artists (USA and other nations)
Release dates	September 10, 1981 (premiere at TIFF) October 9, 1981
Running time	109 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English
Budget	C$4,500,000[1]

Ticket to Heaven is a 1981 Canadian film about the recruiting of a man into a group portrayed to be a cult, and his life in the group until forcibly extracted by his family and friends. The film was directed by Ralph L. Thomas. It was released on DVD on June 20, 1998.

Plot

David Kappel (Nick Mancuso), a twentysomething school teacher, visits a training camp for a religious cult. At the camp everything is done in groups, along with much singing. There is also a low-calorie, low-protein diet; sleep deprivation; constant positive reinforcement; and chanting of slogans.^[2]

All of the elements of the camp begin to have an effect on David mentally. He graduates and is put to work as a volunteer laborer for the cult. In an especially powerful scene he vomits up a hamburger and malted which he had just eaten in violation of cult dietary guidelines.^[3]

David sets out to work, led by cult leader Patrick (Robert Joy). David is shocked when Patrick lies to a customer but Patrick explains that they are only "using Satan's methods to do God's work", and that it is okay because "it's only Satan's money we're taking."^[3]

David's best friend Larry (Saul Rubinek) and his parents, Morely (Paul Soles) and Esther (Marcia Diamond), are concerned about him. Larry visits the cult's camp and almost falls under their influence. He escapes and returns home.

David's parents, Larry, and some other friends enlist the aid of a deprogrammer, Linc Strunc (R.H. Thomson), and arrange for his kidnapping. David is isolated and after some struggle is convinced of the cult's dishonesty and mistreatment. He is confused and when he asks of "true love", he only needs to look around him: at Larry, Danny, Sarah, his parents, and everything they've done for him, and still are enduring for him. Crying, he embraces them all. Everyone reunites and embraces outside Mrs. Foster's house.

Production

The film is based on the non-fiction book Moonwebs: Journey into the Mind of a Cult by Josh Freed, which describes Freed and his friend (whom he calls 'Benji Miller') and their negative experiences with the Unification Church of the United States. When Benji's friends finally found him, he had become a frail figure who sold flowers in the street to serve his master. Freed tried to understand what had happened to his friend, and went through the first stages of Unification Church indoctrination himself, then organized an attempt to kidnap and deprogram his friend. The attempt was led by Benji's parents, who were subsequently arrested for their involvement.^[3]

Reception

The film was selected as one of the top ten films of 1981 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars, but added that the ending was less interesting and powerful than the cult indoctrination scenes which came before.^[2]

Awards and nominations

Ticket to Heaven was nominated for fourteen 1982 Genie Awards, and won four :

See also

• 3rd Genie Awards
• Cults and new religious movements in literature and popular culture

References

External links

• Ticket to Heaven at allmovie
• Ticket to Heaven at the Internet Movie Database
• Ticket to Heaven at Rotten Tomatoes
• Reel.com