Customer Reviews

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow [VHS]

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The prophecies of Nostradamus are written in such a way that nothing definitive could be gleaned from a single interpretation, and THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW generously gives several interpretations to the few significant quatrains (sp?) that the prophet wrote.

However, this picture was produced in a documentary fashion, using fresh footage compiled with stock footage from older films; the end result visually kept me guessing at what films they culled explosions from as opposed to being further intrigued by the prophecies.

Its single redeeming quality is that it might titillate the viewer to actually go and pick up a book about Nostradamus to investigate the 'prophecies' in a more personal, meaning way.

The film is narrated by Orson Welles, who (as always) gives an air of credibility to an otherwise unexplored subject matter.

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow provides only one of an infinite number of possible interpretations of the prophesies of Nostradamus. What makes this film something a little special is the narration of Orson Welles and the first-rate production values.

The cinematography is nearly flawless. Very effective use is made of interweaving historical film, often black and white, with original footage. Most of the actors used are convincing, and the scenarios presented are both thought-provoking and chilling. These effects are enhanced by a sparce but appropriate soundtrack.

The producers choose to take a very dark approach to the famed prophet's writings (quatraines, if you prefer). This morose perspective is balanced somewhat by the final visions included in the picture.

The accuracy of the interpretations or of the prophecies themselves is problematic, and the viewer will come to his or her own conclusions. However, the film does a masterful job of selecting prophesies that can be made to fit historical events or those possibilities of the immediate future which seem logical or even probable.

The only certainty about watching The Man Who Saw Tomorrow is that you won't forget it. You may want to, but you won't.

With the amount of emotion and feeling Orson Wells puts into his projects is by far outstanding. This was the most scary of them all due to the Attacks on September the 11th in New York. I usually don't write reviews on things such as this, but I watched the original broadcast on TV in 1981. The words them selves drew me back almost as if I had saw this just the other day. This is a movie worth takeing a look at and ponder over. The information delivered 20 years ago by this movie is so wierd I can barely describe it. It is a must see by all. I wonder what the transcribers of the profit are saying to them selves now.

This movie is "ok" for a B movie-style documentary that presents mix-n-match quatraines from Nostradamus to present the prophet's past, present, and future "predictions". Any God-fearing individual who is into prophecy and end-time predictions knows that a true prophet accurately predicts events 100%, not 50% or 30% or 10% of the time. Nor will he/she know the date and time of the end of the world. Alas, many translated predictions and interpretations (remember Nostradamus wrote in a cryptic what-the-hell-were-you-smoking? prose style) have never come to pass. Those that have are "ify" at best based on hindsight knowledge of history. Case in point, I remember sitting around at a friend's house in Laguna Beach, CA during late May of 1993-94 timeframe and noticed a book in his collection about predictions of Nostradamus. Out of curiousity (since I remembered seeing this movie in the early '80s on cable as a young kid, and being quite scared afterwards, I might add), I picked up the book and turned to a section that had predictions for the 1990s and the current timeframe we were living. Lo and behold California was suppose to be underwater earlier that May due to a major earthquake with chaos and destruction too follow. Happily to say it is 2002 and California (for the time being) is still above water. ;)

The movie does an ok presentation of piecing together predictions that supposedly were dead-on accurate, but anyone who has done extensive research on Nostradamus (there is a lot of resource material on the web) knows that most of the info presented in this movie is pretty sloppy.

As for future events, the 9/11 attacks were never predicted by Nostradamus. Like an earlier reviewer stated, the whole "Nostradamus Predicted 9/11 Prophecy" that ran rampant on the Internet was a hoax. In the movie, the producers interpret Nostradamus' prediction for 1999 (the one that the 9/11 prediction is based on) as the year a nuclear war takes place and the "Great City" (interpreted by many as New York City) being destroyed in a nuclear blast. With the use of stock footage from other films, we see an entire city getting demolished, not just two towers like some people say is shown in the film. One also has to remember when this movie was made in the early 1980s, we were in the middle of nuclear warfare fear with such movies as the "Day After", "Wargames", etc. reinforcing this fear in our minds. When viewed in this light, it isn't too far fetched to see how current events are twisted to fit as so-called predictions of Nostradamus. In the case of the movie, the fear of nuclear war in the not-too-distant future. In current events, bits and pieces of unrelated quantraines combined to form the so-called prediction for New York City on 9/11.

As for conflicts in the Middle East and the rise of an anti-christ, well, that has been going on since recorded history. Good 'ol Nostradamus was supposedly a religious man and had a Bible handy for reference, so it isn't too difficult for someone to foresee what the future may have in store for us based on the words of Revelations.

The movie paints a stark picture for the near future, but ends happily like a Pepsi commercial featuring Britney Spears flashing some belly and yoddling like she's singing through a 300 baud modem connected to a Commodore 64. We learn of the rise of the third anti-christ (the blue turban wearing Middle Eastern man, who just might have diabolical plans for Britney) and the standard death, doom, and gloom followed by a 1,000 years of Martha Stewart style love-doves-and-lacey dollies peace. Eventually the earth sputters out with one last cosmic gasp, and Mankind blasts off through space a-la Star Trek style with the dawning age of Aquarius. No I'm not making this up. Rent the movie.

Overall, it is an ok movie for schlock entertainment value. If you are really serious about Nostradamus, check out legit research materials (again the web offers a lot of resources) and do your homework. The future is always uncertain so why worry about it to the point of needing Valium? Like the saying goes, live each day like it is your last and enjoy life rather than worrying about tomorrow. I think Jesus said it best, "...tomorrow will take care of itself."

Most of the prophecies are pretty accurate up until the ones about the third antichrist. "Accurate" meaning that their interpretations of the original quatrains are reasonable.

The prophecies surrounding the third antichrist are completely bogus, though. I wrote down the prophecies word for word, then looked in a 30 year old book with all his original prophecies, with English translation, in them. Literally, the movie takes one line from one section, another line from another, and so on.
They then present these randomly assembled lines as if it were one prophecy, which is completey misleading.

Don't be scared by this movie, it plays on your trust and your fears.

"The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" is the penultimate example of the late-70's, early-80's sub-genre known as the psuedo-science documentary.

In this sub-genre of the documentary arena, the Unknown was a prominent feature. Topics ranged from Stonehenge to Bigfoot, from Atlantis to the Bermuda Triangle, from ESP to ancient astronauts, from the paranormal to Noah's Ark. In "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow", the topic is the grandaddy of all psychics, physician Michel de Nostradamus.

What makes this particular pseudo-science offering so compelling is the presence of Mr. Orson Welles. Welles was obviously well past it here, both at his heaviest weight and yet strangely frail in appearance (Welles would pass away a mere four years after this film), but his acting is without flaw as both host and "presenter" of the film. Welles makes the case, although the case is otherwise pretty flimsy for the "predictions" and "prophecies" of Nostradamus.

As others have mentioned, the writings of Nostradamus are vague enough to be interpreted many different ways, and several have been debunked, but the film is great fun nevertheless. Obviously, some cash was spent to make this a decent presentation, and on the whole, the film is darn good despite being somewhat dated.

One side note of interest to film fans is that several of the "world ending" special effects on display here were culled from the George Pal sci-fi classic "When Worlds Collide". Pal would undoubtedly be pleased (as should be fans of his work), that the effects from his 1951 sci-fi opus were still impressive enough to be spliced into a film made thirty years later.

And I mean, buy it, pass it around, donate it to the local library or try to get your a video rental store to stock it. I'm mostly a realistic person and I am ordinarily too skeptical of any prophecy. However, I saw this film as a child and it remained a memory. This film must be passed around.

After 9/11 it instantly flooded back to me. I'm horrified as to how many people go out to deny Nostradamus's vision. Regardless of the "45 degrees/ forty and five 40.5 degrees" types of arguments, the worst is NOT over yet. "The third Antichrist very soon annhilated Twenty-Seven years his bloody war will last. The heretices are dead, Captives exiled, Blood soaked human bodies, and a reddened, icy hail covering the earth."

The best part of the movie is the drama that Orsen Welles brings as narrator. Bleak look at future and current events that lead to world destruction. Nostradamus' prophecies are interpreted to match world situation. Interesting though - if you are interested in Nostradamus, you should watch.

I saw this video in 1984 and it has stayed with me since. It gives the most chilling prophecies of Nostradamus and even more so during this time in our great nation. I would highly recommend this as a must view.

This movie was interesting in 1985 when I first saw it. I traveled to Germany and the Middle East in my time in the military, as an Counterintelligence Agent. When I was in Prague, I brought my girlfriend to see a private screening of this film. In the part where Welles references the quatrain of "The City with the Man-made Mountains shall not escape his wrath." She turned to me asked, "When will this be? I said, "I didn't know, but it was coming, they will get New York." FAST FORWARD - When the WTC was hit she sent me an email saying she remembered the film, eventhough we have not been together for over a year. The one thing I can say is that the film leaves an impact. You can doubt it and say whatever you want about it about the river it Germany, but Check Napolean's meaning in Latin. The Saudi Arabia Air Force is signified by a blue emblem. The reference they make to this is interesting to people that keep an open mind. I don't have all the answer but keep an open mind and learn on your own. I am buying it for reference and maintaining my Bible study. Good Luck and God Bless.