Warning: This post contains my agnostic, anti-organized religion views. If you are easily offended or prone to arguing over the internet, please skip this entry. I have disabled comments on this post.
Movie Number- 63
Title– Jesus Camp (2006)
Genre– Documentary
Branden’s Rating– 7 out of 10
Bridgette’s Rating– N/A out of 10
Average Rating– 7
Netflix Rating– 4 Star
Comments– From politics to religion, nothing is off-limits from my viewing palate today. This movie was terrifying. Seeing these smart, cute young children get brainwashed by a women who openly admits that she focuses on children because they are “easily usable” is scarier than any ghost story I have ever read. Yes, these kids are passionate, but that doesn’t change the fact that most of them have no idea at all what they are actually saying, and being preached to about; they are simply young kids trying to make their mothers and fathers proud, as well as to fit in with whatever is going on around them with their friends and peers. That is an absolute joke for a grown women to think that she is doing something righteous for these kids. The fact that our former President of these United States met every Monday with that Evangelical priest in the movie is also terrifying. That scariest thing, though, is when that priest said “if Evangelicals come out to vote, they control the elections”. It makes me shudder to think that he could be correct. These people are the reason that women have to continue to fight for control over their own body, and homosexuals are being repressed, and it’s scary to think about them controlling the outcome of an election. Organized religion is simply a multi-billion dollar business endeavor, regardless of the religion, and that belief was just made more concrete when I saw that guy speaking, in his million dollar “mega-church”. Political views aside, this was a very well-made documentary that really opened up my eyes to a world I try as best I can to avoid. I thought it did a good job of showing both sides of the argument, and whether your personal views are conservative or liberal, I would recommend this documentary. Good.
Branden has been a film fan since he was young, roaming the halls of Blockbuster Video, trying to find the grossest, scariest looking VHS covers to rent and watch alone in the basement. It wasn’t until recently, though, that Branden started seeking out the classics of cinema, and began to develop his true passion for the art form. Branden approaches each film with the unique perspective of having studied the art from the inside, having both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in acting. He has been a film critic since 2010, and has previously written for Inside Pulse Movies, We Love Cult, and Diehard Gamefan. His biggest achievement as a film critic, to date, has been founding Cinefessions and turning it from a personal blog to a true film website, housing hundreds of film and television reviews, and dozens of podcasts.