Directed by: Larry Charles
Premise: An op-ed documentary on the current state
of religion in world affairs. Comedian and social commentator Bill Maher travels
across the globe, meeting with representatives of mostly Abrahamic-based faiths
and critiques their beliefs.
What Works: Religulous is an op-ed or
subjective documentary, and should be regarded like an editorial piece in a
newspaper, not an objective piece of journalism (if such a thing even exists).
But as a subjective piece, Religulous does its job assembling its
arguments and making its point. Director Larry Charles, best known for directing Borat,
uses his guerilla-style filmmaking to capture Maher speaking at religious
locations such as the Vatican. The film primarily addresses Christianity in
American culture and despite dealing with heavy subject matter, Religulous manages to be very funny in dealing with the absurdity of these beliefs and
traditions. Generally, Maher is able to bring that out without showing too much
contempt. Like a Errol Morris, he often gives his subjects just enough rope for
them to hang themselves with. One of the film’s best moments both for
exploring the topic and for laughs, is a trip to Holy Land, a theme park in
Orlando, Florida that features recreations of Biblical sites and reenacts the
crucifixion of Christ as a daily show. Maher’s interview with an actor playing
Jesus raises many of the most interesting questions in the film, which strike at
the essence of the conflict between faith and rationality. In the second half, Religulous also deals with Islam and Judaism and while it is a little more sensitive in
dealing with these religions, the film does allow for criticism that unifies the
religions together. This is done quite effectively in Maher’s tour of
religious sites in the Holy Land in which Muslim, Jewish, and Christian sites
exit on top of each other and leads into the frightening climax in which Maher
effectively connects the doomsday prophesies of these religions with the way
their participants have conducted themselves over the centuries. This is very
smart filmmaking and a great example of cinema as rhetoric.
What Doesn’t: The biggest flaw of Religulous is its tendency to interview extreme practitioners of faith or those who have
become disillusioned with it. As a result, Religulous is at least partly
guilty of setting up paper tigers. And although the film is dealing with a very
important issue, the film is less likely to reach the faithful and more likely
to preach to the choir of nonbelievers.
Bottom Line: Religulous is not a deeply penetrating documentary, but it is an important one. The film might not convert the believers but it will probably call nonbelivers to action, which Maher states as the intention of his film. On that level, and as an entertaining bit of social criticism, Religulous works very well.