Saw this last night.
I have to say, I thought it was very well-balanced. It didn't appear at all to be a smear job, and the filmmakers rarely editorialized or offered any commentary of their own. Essentially, they gave Becky (the pastor/camp organizer) enough rope to hang herself. Then again, I suspect that when Becky saw the completed film, she was probably quite happy with the way she came off and how much of her message was exposed to a larger audience. As much as I disagree with her message, you can't deny that she has an extraordinary amount of charisma.
The segments with Ted Haggard, as noted, are extremely humourous in hindisight.
More than once I thought the filmmakers were using a cheap trick of overlaying artificially creepy music and chanting sounds to enhance the feeling that these kids are being manipulated, but then they cut to a shot of the camp's musicians and singers actually performing what we, the documentary audience, were hearing. That blew me away.
Also, as previously mentioned in this thread, that one kid talking about how he was saved at the age of five because "I needed more out of life" was also quite shocking.
I really enjoyed the segments with the Christian radio host from Air America Radio (anyone know his name?). I wish more moderate American Christians would speak out against the radical religious right like he does. He reminded me of a good friend of my parents, a progressive Christian pastor. He's told me stories about attending services at some of the large evangelical churches in the South (his wife is from Louisiana), and even he was frightened by what he saw. He said they're promoting Bush and unflinching American patriotism just as much as they promote their faith in God.
|