Ticket to Heaven
Encyclopedia
Ticket to Heaven is a 1981 Canadian film about the recruiting of a man into a group portrayed to be a cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

, 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
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 on June 20, 1998.

Plot

David Kappel (Nick Mancuso
Nick Mancuso
Nicodemo Antonio Massimo "Nick" Mancuso is a Canadian cinema and stage actor.-Career:Mancuso was born in Mammola, Calabria, Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1956...

), a twentysomething school teacher living in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, has just had a messy break-up with his girlfriend, Sarah (Dixie Seatle) of many years. He visits his best friend, Larry (Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek is a Canadian actor, director, producer and playwright, known for his work in TV, film and the stage.-Early life:...

), an aspiring stand-up comedian, in the middle of Larry's show, to talk. Although Larry is sympathetic to David's plight, he doesn't disapprove of her decision. After receiving an invitation from Karl (Stephen Markle), an old friend, David travels to San Francisco and "Liberty City", an odd type of summer camp
Summer camp
Summer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....

, way out in the countryside. However, as soon as David arrives, he can't help but notice the extremely remote locale, the locked gates and the very tall fences. Everyone there is kind and friendly. The first person he meets is Greg (Timothy Webber), a former businessman who tells him of the greatness of the "group". In actuality the facility is a training ground for a "religious cult", although David does not know this.

At Liberty City, David sleeps in a dorm on old mats, is awakened at the crack of dawn for the morning "exercise", which involves everybody holding hands and chanting, then is brought to his "focus group
Focus group
A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging...

", where groups of people sit around in a circle to "share" about themselves. David's group is headed by the high-spirited Ruthie (Kim Cattrall
Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall is an English actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City, and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China, Mannequin, and Porky's...

), who also leads the morning chants. He then attends a long class by a "renowned doctor", Dr. Dwyer (Patrick Brymer) who speaks extensively about God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

. David soon develops reservations about the whole group – he frequently finds less and less time to himself, as he is followed around on a regular basis. David is very skeptical, but Karl, Ruthie and Greg convince him to stay. Ruthie takes David to the camp's phone booth: the only means of communication between the camp and the outside world. With Ruthie present David speaks to his parents and tells them he will not be coming home for a while, assuring them he is working on a "major project". David is brought to the camp's "church", run by the enigmatic Ingrid (Meg Foster
Meg Foster
Megan "Meg" Foster is an American actress best known for her roles in the TV miniseries version of The Scarlet Letter, Ticket to Heaven, The Osterman Weekend, and They Live .-Life and career:...

). Ingrid instructs the group to pray to photos of their "true parents": "Father", an Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...

 businessman, the leader of the cult.

David and Greg graduate from Liberty City and are put to work as volunteer laborers for the organization. No longer at the camp, they now sleep in one of the group's vans, awakening every morning to a cassette tape of Father giving them instructions: he instructs them that, while they are working "for God", their food and sleep is severely limited, and they must sell as many of their wares as possible. The motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...

 of the group's "Father" is: "Stay awake, bring in the money, smash out Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...

!". David sets out to work, led by group leader Patrick (Robert Joy
Robert Joy
Robert Joy is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. Sid Hammerback in CSI: NY and playing Charlie in Land of the Dead.-Early life:...

). David is shocked when Patrick lies to a customer (David Main
David Main
David Main may refer to:*David Main, Television writer*David Forsyth Main , New Zealand politician...

), 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." Convinced, David follows along, and is discouraged from asking questions about the group or its methods.

Larry is concerned about David's call from earlier. He confides to David's parents, Morely (Paul Soles
Paul Soles
Paul Robert Soles is a Canadian actor and television personality.-Acting roles:He is best known as the voice of Hermie the misfit elf in Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964....

) and Esther (Marcia Diamond), who dismiss Larry's concerns. Larry asks his boss, Mr. Stone (Harvey Atkin
Harvey Atkin
Harvey Atkin is a Canadian voice actor who has worked in feature films and television. He has also done voice-overs, and has voiced animations.- Early life :...

) for some time off so he can visit David. In a diner in San Francisco, Larry meets up with David, who is escorted by Patrick and Ingrid. Larry is shocked at the changes he finds in David's personality. Larry asks that David come home for a few days, but Ingrid announces they have to leave. Ingrid suggests Larry come to Liberty City where he and David may talk further. At the camp, Larry is advised by one attendee, a tall man named Eric (Guy Boyd
Guy Boyd
Guy Boyd may refer to:*Guy Boyd *Guy Boyd...

), not to cooperate.

While out selling his wares with a fellow member, Lisa (Jennifer Dale
Jennifer Dale
Jennifer Dale, née Ciurluini , is a Canadian television, dancer, and actress.- Early life :She is the sister of Canadian actress Cynthia Dale...

), a car pulls up and two men pull her inside, then drive off. At the church, Ingrid tells the congregation that "Satan" uses the group's own parents to "corrupt them". Ingrid then teaches the cult members how to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 in the event that their parents attempt to forcibly remove them from the facilities. "Across for a hospital(gesturing on her wrists), down for death!" Lisa is soon returned via a police car, to the great delight of the group. In church, she tells them she "saw Satan in the eyes of my father", showing her slit wrists.

Larry, meanwhile, has fallen under the sway of the group and is now on the road to becoming a cult member just like David. Eric intervenes and helps Larry escape from the camp, jumping the fence. Eric explains to Larry about the group and their methods. He is currently looking for his sister, who is a cult member. Returning home, Larry tells everyone of David's situation. Larry then devises a strategy to free his friend and restore his freedom of thought. A plan is set involving Mr. & Mrs. Kappel, Danny (Michael Zelniker), David's brother, ex-girlfriend Sarah and the sympathetic Mr. Stone.

David waits at the airport with Patrick and Ingrid to meet with Sarah, whom they intend to indoctrinate into the group. David is surprised when his mother Esther arrives as well, as she was "dying to see him". Going to dinner, Esther asks to stop by her hotel so she may change clothes. At the hotel, everyone is waiting. When Esther excuses herself into the bathroom, Larry, Eric, along with Danny, burst in the room and seize David. The whole group, carrying David, get away in another car. David is taken to the house of Eric's landlady, Mrs. Foster (Doris Petrie
Doris Petrie
Doris Petrie was a Canadian film and television actress, best known for her roles in the films Wedding in White and Ticket to Heaven and the television series High Hopes, in which she played Meg Chapman, the mother of the main character, Dr...

), and put in an empty room to prevent him from harming himself. He is given food, but refuses to eat. He won't talk to anyone, chanting Father's motto repeatedly. Contacting David's parents, Larry discovers that they have been arrested in regards to David's kidnapping. When Larry tells David of the news, David tells them charges won't be pressed if they let him go. The deprogrammer, a no-nonsense man named Linc Strunc (R.H. Thomson), arrives and immediately proceeds to intimidate David, explaining "in order for him to think, he has to feel something".

David is visited by his old friend Greg, who is now out of the cult. David accuses Greg of trying to "tempt" him. Linc asks David about the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 - David has never read it. "Only Father can interpret its meaning." Linc offers up a book written by Father, showing him the true agenda of the group. David tries to block things out by chanting, but this proves difficult, as Linc throws more facts at him. Linc finally makes leeway with David when he exposes a major hypocrisy
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....

 in Father's teaching. Linc then reviews David's cult agenda with Father's lifestyle, informing David exactly where all the money goes; namely, in Father's pocket. David counters that Father is doing it for God, but when Linc tells him of Father's weapons factory
Weapons Factory
The Weapons Factory is a series of video game capture the flag class-based mods, originally created for Quake II by brothers Tom "Tumorhead" and Gregg "Headache"...

, David, enraged, calls Linc a liar. However, Linc provides more information proving his case.

David, now very disillusioned, asks Linc who the true Messiah is. Linc tells him he has no answers there, only that Father and his cult are a lie. When David 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. Linc then reveals how he knows so much about Father: he himself is a former cult member. David drops all charges and his parents are released. Everyone reunites and embraces outside Mrs. Foster's house. Just before the film ends, however, a car pulls up. Out of the car comes Ingrid, Ruthie, Patrick and Lisa, who look at David questioningly. David pays them no mind and continues hugging his parents.

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 Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...

. 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 Moonie 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 trying to win back their son. The deprogramming was done by Ford Greene
Ford Greene
Aylsworth Crawford Greene III is an American attorney from San Anselmo, California, noted for having successfully conducted litigation against Scientology and alleged cults. Greene is currently the mayor of San Anselmo and a twice-elected San Anselmo town councilman...

. The film does not refer to Reverend Moon or the Unification Church by name but makes little effort to disguise the identity of the organization.

Reception

The film was selected as one of the top ten films of 1981 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium...

. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 gave the film three and a half out of four stars. Time Magazine had a more critical take, complaining that "Although it has plenty of impact, Ticket is often too busy being outraged to bother with niceties of characterization and plot. (Just how does David become converted? At what point does he snap out of it?)", and suggesting that the film "ignores the central dilemma: that kidnapping an adult, however pure the motive or dear the victim, is against the law".

Awards and nominations

Ticket to Heaven was nominated for fourteen 1982 Genie Awards, and won four :
Year Award Category Winner/Nominee Result
1982 Genie Awards
Best Motion Picture
Genie Award for Best Motion Picture
The Genie Award for Best Motion Picture is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian motion picture.-1st Genie Awards:*The Changeling *Cordélia...

Ronald I. Cohen, Vivienne Leebosh Won
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
The Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian actor.-1st Genie Awards:* Christopher Plummer, Murder by Decree...

Nick Mancuso
Nick Mancuso
Nicodemo Antonio Massimo "Nick" Mancuso is a Canadian cinema and stage actor.-Career:Mancuso was born in Mammola, Calabria, Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1956...

Won
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
The Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best supporting Canadian actor.-1st Genie Awards:* Gordon Pinsent, Jack London's Klondike Fever...

Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek is a Canadian actor, director, producer and playwright, known for his work in TV, film and the stage.-Early life:...

Won
Best Achievement in Film Editing
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Editing
The Genie Award for Best Achievement in Editing is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian film editor.-1st Genie Awards:* Stan Cole, Murder By Decree* Jean Beaudin, Cordelia* Ron Wisman, Fish Hawk...

Ron Wisman Won
Best Achievement in Direction
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction
The Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian film director.-1st Genie Awards:*Bob Clark, Murder by Decree*Peter Carter, Klondike Fever...

Ralph L. Thomas Nominated
Best Achievement in Music Score
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Music - Original Score
The Genie Award for Best Achievement in Music - Original Score is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian original score.-1st Genie Awards:* Carl Zittrer, Paul Zaza,Murder By Decree...

Micky Erbe, Maribeth Solomon Nominated
Best Achievement in Overall Sound
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Overall Sound
The Genie Award for Best Achievement in Overall Sound is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian sound designer.-1st Genie Awards:* Karl Scherer, Austin Grimaldi, Dino Pigat, Joe Grimaldi, The Changeling...

Marc Chiasson, Bruce Carwardine, Glen Gauthier Nominated
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Genie Award for Best Achievement in Sound Editing
The Genie Award for Best Achievement in Sound Editing is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian sound editor.-16th Genie Awards:...

Marc Chiasson, Glen Gauthier, Don White, David Appleby, Bruce Carwardine Nominated
Best Performance by a Foreign Actor Guy Boyd
Guy Boyd (actor)
Guy Boyd is an American character actor. He has starred in over fifty films from the late 1970s to the present. He is probably best known for his role as Detective Jim McLean in Brian De Palma's thriller Body Double...

Nominated
Best Performance by a Foreign Actress Meg Foster
Meg Foster
Megan "Meg" Foster is an American actress best known for her roles in the TV miniseries version of The Scarlet Letter, Ticket to Heaven, The Osterman Weekend, and They Live .-Life and career:...

Nominated
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
The Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best supporting Canadian actor.-1st Genie Awards:* Gordon Pinsent, Jack London's Klondike Fever...

R.H. Thomson Nominated
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
The Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian actress.-1st Genie Awards:* Kate Lynch, Meatballs* Louise Portal, Cordélia...

Kim Cattrall
Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall is an English actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City, and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China, Mannequin, and Porky's...

Nominated
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
The Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best supporting Canadian actress.-1st Genie Awards:* Geneviève Bujold, Murder by Decree...

Dixie Seatle Nominated
Best Screenplay Adapted from Another Medium
Genie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
The Genie Award for Best Screenplay is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian screenplay.The award's presentation has not always been consistent — in some years, a single award for Best Screenplay has been presented, while in other years separate awards have...

Ralph L. Thomas, Anne Cameron
Anne Cameron
Anne Cameron , August 20, 1938 in Nanaimo, British Columbia) is a Canadian novelist, poet, screenwriter and short story writer. Much of her work is inspired by Northwest Coast First Nations mythology and culture....

Nominated

See also

  • 3rd Genie Awards
    3rd Genie Awards
    The 3rd Genie Awards were awarded March, 1982 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto and honoured Canadian films released in 1981. It was again hosted by Brian Linehan, with magician Doug Henning assisting.Best Motion Picture...

  • Cults and new religious movements in literature and popular culture
    Cults and new religious movements in literature and popular culture
    New religious movements and cults can appear as themes or subjects in literature and popular culture, while notable representatives of such groups have produced, for their own part, a large body of literary works.- Terminology :...

  • List of fictional religions
  • Parody religion
    Parody religion
    A parody religion or mock religion is a parody of a religion, sect or cult. A parody religion can be a parody of several religions, sects, gurus and cults at the same time. Or, it can be a parody of no particular religion, instead parodying the concept of religious belief...

  • Religious satire
    Religious satire
    Religious satire is a form of satire targeted at religion and religious practices. Religious satire can be the result of agnosticism or atheism, but it can also have its roots in belief itself...


External links

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