Directed by: Heidi Ewing and Rochel Grady
Premise: A documentary about Evangelicals in
Colorado, focusing on a camp intended to indoctrinate children to be “soldiers
for Jesus.”
What Works: Jesus Camp embeds itself within
the Evangelical movement and is able to penetrate the subculture while also
telling some interesting personal stories by creating character sketches of the
children and their families. The result is a very interesting portrait of this
group and the ideology behind it. Jesus Camp is similar to the
documentaries of Errol Morris (The
Fog of War, Vernon,
Florida) in that the filmmakers turn on the camera and let the subjects
reveal themselves. At the same time, the picture achieves something very close
to an objective documentary. Audience’s reactions to the film may range
between inspiration and absolute horror, depending on what religious and
ideological camps they belong to. This adds is to Jesus Camp’s
credibility because the journalism of the film has such authority and integrity.
What Doesn’t: Jesus Camp has some notable
technical flaws. The sound quality is poor in some parts, as the audio
inexplicably goes out. This is due to the on-the-spot documentary style of the
film, but the defects detract from the film.
DVD extras: Commentary track, deleted scenes.
Bottom Line: While Jesus Camp is not a major
breakthrough in the documentary genre, it is an enlightening and frightening.
The film raises important issues for Evangelicals, non-Evangelical Christians,
secularists and all those interested in how religion shapes the culture.