thoughts on...jesus camp

when i first saw the trailer for this movie i was freaked out and a little angry. but i decided to watch the movie and try to make a better decision on what the film was trying to say/accomplish.

first what i liked. i liked that someone would actually make this film. some would say the subject matter was an easy target, and i'd have to agree. but they still made the film because they thought the story was worth telling. it's also a great conversation starter, which i always appreciate. i also liked that it was only 84 minutes long. i don't think i could have taken anymore kids speaking in tongues and crying hysterically.

now for what i didn't like. the movie was extremely biased towards making these people look like idiots. you could argue that they are on some levels, and i'd have to agree. however, i truly believe that they want to follow Jesus, but they have strayed from the Biblical gospel. that is the aspect of the film that wasn't covered or discussed. the filmmakers clearly took advantage of this and then blanket stamped all kinds of "evangelical christians believe" statistics throughout the film. i guess that means i'm not an evangelical christian. it was really hard to decipher what aspects of the kids interactions with their parents were edited in favor of the filmmakers, and what things were staged. in the end it felt too easy - sensationalism sells.

i think it's a good idea to see this movie so you can talk intelligently to someone else when they come and ask you about all the crazy christians in "jesus camp". it was definitely heavy handed, which is ironic because the filmmakers clearly want you to look at the subjects and go, "wow look how heavy handed they are". as my pastor steev says, "everybody's preaching, but what are they saying".