REVIEW

Movie Review: The God Who Wasn't There

Written by Marty Dodge
Published February 02, 2006

Fascinating film from director Brian Flemming about absolute faith and the problems therewith. Rather than the Christian-bashing fest some Christians believe this film to be, in fact it is not that critical of those who are believers. It is quite critical of fundamentalists or those who belief in total faith without any scintilla of rational thought. The individuals quizzed outside a Falwell meeting were particularly disturbing both in their blind faith in what is said in the Bible, and in their abject ignorance (and desire to remain so) about any of the historical pretext to the rise of "their saviour." While you don't necessarily think they would "martyr" themselves for Christianity, there are some eerie parallels between what they have to say and what one hears from Islamists.

There is an amusing piece where the director heads off to his old school and confronts the headmaster on the Christian school's ethos and methods. As you might imagine the school has quite a bit to do with the director's loss of faith and its echoes of a Madrassa are quite obvious. The interview does not end well.

There are several talking heads interviewed in this documentary. The movie itself contains clips of their responses while the DVD holds their complete interviews if you would like to hear more. It has to be said these interviews are generally fairly sane and there is no hysterical Christian-bashing or secularism.

There is one interviewee who claims things have gotten worse for homosexuals over the last 20 years in the US, which is laughable in extremis. This is, fortunately, a rather small blip in a quality documentary that tries to examine quite an important issue.

While those of you who are interested in the type of issues contained in this documentary will probably have read many of the books mentioned in the movie, this could prove a useful tool for those who are not so curious or can't be bothered to read the, at times, turgid texts on religion that are available.

Even you are are well-read in the subjects herein, this is a well put-together documentary that rewards viewing. I do rather hope it gets a wide audience.

Marty's band, Growing Old Disgracefully, can be found at: Disgraceful Music. His Cthulhu tales can be found at Temple of Dagon.
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Movie Review: The God Who Wasn't There
Published: February 02, 2006
Type: Review
Section: Video
Filed Under: Culture: Religion, Video: Documentary
Writer: Marty Dodge
Marty Dodge's BC Writer page
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