Jesus Camp - Oscar Nominated Documentary

[Morrigoon]

So my first Netflix shipment came today. And, the Oscars having only just past, I decided to watch this one first.

Interesting film. I guess the thing that strikes me most, and admittedly, this could be due to the filmmaker's style and what he's trying to say, but I don't see a lot of love in their eyes. These children say all the right words, but there's anger in their eyes.

Okay, and now they're basically worshiping a cardboard cutout of Bush. I mean WORSHIPING. Oh, and taping kids' mouths shut as some representation of standing against abortion (which they don't really explain).

I like the fact that the presentation isn't too heavy handed. There has been some cutting between the conservatives and liberals, but not too much. They're mostly sticking to showing the evangelical kids and letting their craziness speak for itself. I mean that it's leading you to a conclusion, rather than telling you "this is the conclusion you're supposed to reach from this".

I'd be interested to see someone take this footage and show it up against cult brainwashing.

Has anyone else seen this yet? If not, add it to your Netflix queue, at least for academic interest. Also, aside from the point it's addressing, it's just very well put together and presented.

[Morrigoon]

Side note: the "deleted scenes" seems as long as the film itself. Fascinating stuff.

[wendybeth]

I'm living with a Mormon. I don't think I could live through Jesus Camp.

[Not Afraid]

I know GC saw it and loved it, but i'm sort of not looking forward to seeing it. i was brough up a Fundi and I'm not looking forward to reliving even a hint of that, but I will probably buck up and see it anyways.

[€uroMeinke]

The one person I know who loved it also loved the secret, so I'm suspicious

[Gemini Cricket]

I thought this doco was well made. It let the footage of this camp speak for itself. When I saw it, I felt very sorry for the lady leading the camp. I didn't despise her, I felt bad for her. It seems like there's some self-hate going on.

As for the taping the mouth thing, it's a common form of protest used by pro-lifers. I've seen grown adults, old people and kids with their mouths taped shut protesting in front of the Supreme Court. I think the kids were just joining in.

What made me sad was the one kid they kept showing that was actually crying his eyes out all the time. I mean, he was being traumatized by the whole thing, it was alarming.

The camp has been shut down from what I hear. The facility was vandalized after the doco came out in theatres.

I think more people should see this one. It's fascinating.

[flippyshark]

The one person I know who loved it also loved the secret, so I'm suspicious

I liked Jesus Camp quite a lot, and I wouldn't touch "The Secret" with a 90 foot pole.

Just to add a bit of fine distinction, the nuttiness on display here is not really fundamentalist so much as spirit-filled charismatic. (There is some crossover. Both groups share many of the same theological and political beliefs, but the emotionally charged spectacle of the charismatics is pretty much anathema to the Baptist type fundies.)

My own childhood included some of the charismatic stuff seen here. (Yes, at age twelve, I used to speak in tongues.) I was never put into a situation quite as coercive and manipulative as seen in this movie. I, too, was disturbed by how frequently these kids were driven to tears, often goaded there by Pastor Becky Fischer's haranguing insistence that there must be SOMETHING sinful in their lives that they should feel bad about.

Jesus Camp made me happy I'm an atheist.

For those wanting a dose of Fundamentalist wackiness, also in a documentary that is admirably dispassionate, I recommend Hell House, a look at the grotesquely judgemental spook house attractions put on at certain fundie churches every Halloween.

[innerSpaceman]

I'm living with a Mormon. I don't think I could live through Jesus Camp.
And I couldn't live through it because it was boring and repetitive. I tried to at least last till the homohypocracy of Paul Haggard was on display, but I couldn't even make it that far.

[wendybeth]

I should clarify my comment: I'm living with someone who is sporadically Mormon. She's fine when she's off the wagon, but periodically she starts attending services, tithing, etc, and she gets all saintly-smug on me. Just a few days ago she told me that by paying tithing she is earning a better location in Mormon heaven and increasing the odds of reaping financial blessings here on Earth with her gift to the church. She gives so she can get better for herself, which to me is a really ****ed up reason, but hey- it's her money. Just spare me the saint act.:rolleyes: