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Another attack upon our faith. Now Hollywood has made another movie attacking Jesus. This movie is titled “The God Who Wasn't There.” This movie is similar in format to a documentary and the primary point of this film it to say that “Jesus never existed.” Jewsweek magazine, aka, Newsweek magazine says about this film that it "Irreverently lays out the case that Jesus Christ never existed." Jewsweek magazine loves this movie because they love anything that is IRREVERENT - That is their favorite word. Revere - means to honor, love, adore as God. Regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of. Irreverent means the opposite. Irreverent means to mock, denigrate and belittle as in mocking God or sacred things. Irreverent means showing a lack of due respect or veneration, as in mocking sacred things or not revering God. So this is another in a long list of “irreverent” movies financed and produced by Jewish run Hollywood ethnotypes. Some will say, wait a minute Bob, "Brian Flemming" is not a Jew. I will answer, believe me nothing comes out of Hollywood without the Jewish stamp of approval. They can shut you down for the rest of your life if they do not like what you produce. Nothing comes out of Hollywood with out a wink and a nod from the Jewish power that runs the industry. The anti-Christian BIGOTRY of the Jewish Left is going over the top. Angry, you bet God is angry and so am I. There is going to be hell to pay if these Hollywood Jews do not backoff and stop the attacks upon our faith and our families and our nation. My advice to you is that you do not read this email any further because the further you read below the angrier you are going to become. I warned you. Bob +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://www.thegodmovie.com/ "Irreverently lays out the case that Jesus Christ never existed" Newsweek Bowling for Columbine did it to the gun culture. Super Size Me did it to fast food. Now "The God Who Wasn't There" does it to religion. Holding modern Christianity up to a bright spotlight, this bold and often hilarious new film asks the questions few dare to ask. Your guide through the world of Christendom is former fundamentalist Brian Flemming, joined by such luminaries as Jesus Seminar fellow Robert M. Price, professor Richard Dawkins, author Sam Harris and historian Richard Carrier. See the movie the Los Angeles Times calls "provocative - to put it mildly." Hold on to your faith. It's in for a bumpy ride. Learn more >> The movie that has been astounding audiences in theaters around the world is now available on a high-quality, feature-packed DVD. In this provocative, critically acclaimed documentary, you will discover: The early founders of Christianity seem wholly unaware of the idea of a human Jesus The Jesus of the Gospels bears a striking resemblance to other ancient heroes and the figureheads of pagan savior cults Contemporary Christians are largely ignorant of the origins of their religion Fundamentalism is as strong today as it ever has been, with an alarming 44% of Americans believing Jesus will return to earth in their lifetimes And God simply isn't there Dazzling motion graphics and a sweeping soundtrack propel this uncompromising and taboo-shattering documentary that Newsweek says "irreverently lays out the case that Jesus Christ never existed." The God Who Wasn't There includes provocative interviews with: Sam Harris, PEN Award-winning author of The End of Faith Robert M. Price, Jesus Seminar fellow and author of The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man Alan Dundes, Professor of Folklore at the University of California at Berkeley Richard Carrier, historian and author of Sense and Goodness Without God Barbara & David P. Mikkelson, authors of the Urban Legends Reference Pages at snopes.com And many others Special Features The special features on this DVD are both generous and carefully selected. As DVD Talk puts it: "This DVD delivers the film in a quality presentation, with extras that quadruple the amount of content in a positive way with no filler." The extras include: Two full-length alternate audio tracks with commentary from evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins (A Devil's Chaplain), scholar Earl Doherty (The Jesus Puzzle) and popular blogger The Raving Atheist (ravingatheist.com) Over one hour of selected additional interview clips with each person in the documentary An in-depth slide show on every topic in the film, with active links to the Web (Windows or Mac computer required for Web features) Cast and crew biographies Selected music from the soundtrack album Full-motion chapter menus The movie is presented full-screen, with crisp Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio. The DVD is playable in all regions, but is English language only (no subtitles or captions). If you have any questions, please email us at sales@beyondbeliefmedia.com FIND A SCREENING: ALAust-AgderAZCAFLGAILINKYLAMIMNMONVNYOntarioVAAll CurrentCurrent & Past TELL A FRIEND | FREE NEWSLETTER ©2005 Beyond Belief Media. All rights reserved. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://ruthlessreviews.com/movies/g/godwhowasntthere.html Writer/Director/Narrator Brian Flemming gets an A+ for Effort, but only a B- for Execution. His new film, The God Who Wasn't There, asserts that Jesus Christ of Nazareth never even walked the earth, let alone was the son of Imaginary Sky-God #1. And, for those who think Jesus was a really "cool dude" who loved everyone and his message has been stolen and co-opted by reactionary meanies, think again. As Flemming points out very well early on, there is a forty-year gap between when this Jesus cat supposedly died and when ANYBODY bothered to write down a word about him. The four Gospels that the Council of Nicea saw fit to include in the New Testament, were written after the destruction of the second Temple, which occurred in 70 CE. Look, I get lazy at times, too. Sometimes it will take me weeks to post something Hobart von Mike has sent me. And those are reviews of crap death metal bands, not a first person account of God incarnate walking around Jerusalem. Forty-years? My ass. Flemming does an admirable job of dispensing with this nonsense right up front. We learn during the course of the film that Flemming himself was once a fundamentalist Christian. He was schooled at the severely evil Village Christian School right here in the San Fernando Valley. I say severely evil not only because Flemming tells us so (by going back and interviewing the deeply thick Superintendent of the joint), but because one of my dearest friends was forced to go to VCS. Long story short, that place fucked her up for life. While we never learn exactly why Flemming himself had a falling out with Christianity, it is more than obvious that he is resentful of the brainwashing he was forced to endure while a student there. And with good cause. Essentially, and this should be news to no one, he details how Christian indoctrination scares kids shitless and discourages above all else "thinking." VCS and really all other fundies instill this sad mode of thought by telling children about the "one unforgivable sin." That sin is "denial of the Holy Spirit." There are two New Testament verses that mention this and you are free to look them up. As he points out, "there's no more evidence for the existence of this 'Holy Spirit' than for the existence of unicorns." Yet, if a child were to doubt this thing he/she cannot see or touch or even doubt, well, hell awaits. To me, that's the worst form of child abuse. And, judging by Flemming's rage, he feels the same way. The best parts of The God Who Wasn't There are the people he interviews who all maintain that Jesus is a load of bullshit. Namely Richard Carrier, Alan Dundes (who sadly died a few weeks after being interviewed), Sam Harris, Robert M. Price and the co-founders of snopes.com, Barbara and David Mikkelson. Carrier wrote a book called Sense and Goodness Without God, and while I haven't read it, I am sure it is inline with Robert Wright's The Moral Animal, an excellent book on evolutionary psychology that essentially posits the human desire for "good" is not founded in religion, but rather in our biology; murderers are not tolerated because of commandments, but rather they are bad for the survival of the species. Duh. Anyhow, all interviewed are fascinating and all cut into the lie that is not only Christianity, but all religions that believe in invisible men living in the sky. Harris, takes it a step further (and really, he is the most interesting of all in the movie) by explaining how dangerous this type of thinking is. He points out that with 44% of the American population actually believing that Jesus is going to usher in Armageddon within their lifetimes, how the fuck can you convince them that global warming is a serious problem? Who needs education or scientific research when the world is going to end anyhow? He's an articulate, American Richard Dawkins and we need 1,000 more just like him -- stating the important thing, the obvious thing, which sadly no one is saying. I wish the Harris interview would have gone on for seven hours And really, that is the problem with The God Who Wasn't There. It's too short! That's why I gave is a low grade. Mr. Flemming! You were kicking so much ass! Why stop it at 53 minutes? Two hours, minimum, please! Like the whole of the film, there was a fantastic sequence that was too rushed where Flemming is outside of the Billy Graham revival that took place at the Rose Bowl last year. He is asking random people about how Christianity was spread in the early days of the church. Not surprisingly, no one has a fucking clue. Sadly but typically, they all sounded stupid as they just smiled and explained how much they love Jesus. Dandes and Price then explain that the Jesus myth is nothing more than pre-existing folklore and myth, given a new name. Legends like Attis, Mithras and Osiris do everything that Jesus did. Basically Jesus is an old story with a fresh coat of paint. Again, I could have listened to this shit for days. But we get just a taste and are left wanting. In a perfect world, viewers of this movie would look up and research and read about all it contains. In fact, Flemming goes out of his way to include web links for not only everything mentioned, but the sites for all those interviewed. However, he should have known what lazy bags of shit most people are and included at least twice as much info in the film itself. My favorite part though, was his smart and welcomed deconstruction of Mel Gibson's S&M snuff flick, The Passion of the Christ. Flemming points out that "singing Jesus" (Jesus Christ Superstar) and "horny Jesus" (The Last Temptation of Christ) were only marginal successes, while Gibson's "bloody Jesus" was an out and smash hit and is going to net $400 million shortly. Flemming (without permission) treats us to some of the more brutally graphic scenes of Jesus getting his skin flayed off, where he marvels aloud how Gibson went out of his way to add in Peckinpah-style blood packs to ensure maximum gore. His point is that religious bloodlust is nothing new, yet it still sells. But why is it that the bloodiest Jesus is the one the fans want the most? And excellent question, and again, one that deserve hours of analysis. Not minutes. And, to give you an idea of how insanely bloody The Passion really is, Flemming actually went through (well, an assistant did at any rate) and counted the number of minutes where there was not some sort of vicious violence or bloody gore. After Jesus stomps the Satan-snake to death at the ten minute mark of the film, there are six minutes in the remaining two-hours. And, following the lead of that anal maniac over at CAP Reports, Flemming actually lists every instance of violence. Awesome! While amateurish at times (enough with the Mac graphics!), The God Who Wasn't There is so punk rock that I am willing to forgive all sins. More films like this are needed. I mean, what is not to love about a movie that catches the man responsible for the education of 1,800 children changing his story? Oh, yeah, so Flemming is interviewing the Superintendent of VCS and he asks the man what evidence he has that the world works in the way that Christians say it does. The answer? None. It's a faith issue. So, Flemming then asks, isn't that irresponsible? The Superintendent, rather than answering, gets mad and ends the interview. It was beautiful and typical. And I wanted more of it! Still, even at its short runtime, The God Who Wasn't There is worth your while. I mentioned above that we need more people like Sam Harris. While true, we also need more Flemmings! Oh, and there is a short interview with Richard Dawkins on the extras track, to boot. Highly recommended. Websites Related To This Film: Richard Carrier: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/ Sam Harris: http://www.samharris.org/ Robert M. Price: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/robert_price/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The God Who Wasn't There A film review by Keith Breese - Copyright © 2005 filmcritic.com Search 6,000+ reviews! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One could hardly think of a topic more likely to get people pissed off than questioning the very existence of Christ. I mean, you can bash Bush, you can harp on capitalism and you can question the automotive industry’s agenda. But in America, going after Jesus is tantamount to burning a flag, eating an eagle, or spitting on the Constitution. And in the current atmosphere of increasing conservatism and moral rectitude, Jesus has become more popular and more topical than ever. So director Brian Flemming figures now is the perfect time to go after him. The thesis at the heart of Flemming’s documentary is that Jesus, the man, the risen son of God, never really existed. Moreover, that Jesus is merely a construct of hero mythology – it caught on and now the particulars of the matter are nearly indistinguishable from the fiction. Flemming lays out his facts reasonably, rationally. It is true that prior to the appearance of Jesus Christ there had been countless hero tales of messianic figures who, like Christ, were killed, rose from the dead on the third day, and performed many miracles. The mythologies of Osiris, Mithras, and Attis all sound convincingly like the story of Jesus, even down to the virgin birth and wine representing blood. Could be coincidence, but Flemming and a host of talking heads disagree. Robert M. Price (known to legions of Cthulhu mythos fans as the king of Lovecraftian esoterica) argues that the stories are simply too similar to not have informed the Christ “mythology.” Sam Harris, author of the intriguing End of Faith, claims that Christians should be held to the same rigid terms of debate as scientists are. But they aren’t, religious truths are based on faith, not facts. Flemming even gets Barbara and David Mikkelson, founders of snopes.com, in on the game. Flemming moves from the historical facts against the existence of Jesus into the current trends of fundamentalism and winds up back at his alma mater, Village Christian Schools. Flemming, we learn, was himself a fundamentalist Christian. Now, an angry, wayward sheep, he turns against the flock and has a showdown with his former principal to close out the film. At little more than an hour long, The God Who Wasn’t There is awfully short to truly encompass all the points Flemming seeks to compellingly argue. But that’s not the only problem with the picture. The film reeks of Michael Moore (and I’m not talking about the underside of Moore’s baseball cap), it is a self-referential slice of post-modern documentary filmmaking. Flemming is as guilty as anyone of crossing over into sheer propaganda. He’s got all these interesting facts to tell us about, all these fascinating historians and scientists, but he rarely lets them do the talking. Instead, he drones on like a contributor to “This American Life.” The tone here is so ironic it’s painful, so hip it’s almost passé. (Though Flemming’s utilization of old film clips (1952 Living Bible miniseries clips intertwined with La Vie et al Passion de Jesus Christ, a 1905 silent film, to tell the story of Christ’s life is quite engaging and well realized.) Flemming loses points almost immediately by opening the film with some really lame comparisons. He tries to juxtapose good Christians with bad “Christians” (like Manson, who called himself "Jesus Christ") but it’s just juvenile. What about the Crusades? What about witch hunts? Pogroms? Come on, man! Overall, The God Who Wasn’t There is entertaining and it gets points for being gutsy and inventive but the truth is: none of this matters. You can argue all these “facts” until you’re blue in the face but there is one truth about religion that Flemming seems to overlook: the facts don’t matter. When it comes to faith, it’s all about faith. Christians don’t believe in the power of Jesus because they read a fact-filled book about him, they believe in the power of Jesus because they feel it. That’s conviction, bub. Robert M. Price, a pastor and practicing Christian, sums it all up perfectly when he tells us that he still goes to church and loves the liturgy. For him, it doesn't really matter that Jesus may be an archetypal hero or that the story of his death and resurrection is apocryphal. For Price, Christianity as mythology still retains a potency, a revelatory power, that goes beyond facts or dogma. Brian Flemming is currently hard at work on a thriller called The Beast, to be released 6-6-06. It follows along the same trajectory as The God Who Wasn't There, a girl discovers that Christ never existed, and I'll bet that will be more effective then this film. Why? Look at The DaVinci Code. Fact is, people like their shocking revelations sweetened with a lot of fictional sugar. They like to fool around with truth (that old rascal with bad teeth from the wrong side of town) without losing their virginity. Funny that. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=17512 The God Who Wasn't There Other // Unrated // $24.98 // June 6, 2005 Review by Francis Rizzo III | posted September 3, 2005 | E-mail the Author | Start a Discussion In 10 Words or Less What if God wasn't one of us? Reviewer's Bias* Loves: Myth busting, Jesus, Artistic documentaries, evolution Likes: Watching hypocrites be exposed, science Dislikes: Religious dogma Hates: Hatred based in religious doctrine The Movie I am a Lutheran, which means I am more than open to examining religion. It's how my faith got its start, as Martin Luther questioned the bill of sale he was being given. I see no problem with putting religion under a microscope, as if one truly believes in a faith, a few questions about it shouldn't be a big deal. But try and talk to a fundamentalist about homosexuality, and they act as if saying the word gay will change their orientation. Intense belief, despite the strength it seems to give its owners, seems to be more fragile than almost anything. Thus, The God Who Wasn't There is going to feel like a knife to the heart for those who subscribe to Christianity without thought. It "attacks" the very heart of the belief system, saying that Jesus Christ may not have walked the earth. Without God sending Jesus to Earth, and him dying to forgive the sins of man, the belief system loses its core, those with questionable faith become lost, and worst of all for the extremists, The Passion of the Christ is just good-old-fashioned fiction. The film is built around interviews with atheists who, through Bible passages and historic documents, build a case that Jesus was an invention by the writers of the Bible, devised to give the religion a hero to rally around. Now, I believe in Jesus, and my religion, but the argument made in this film is highly plausible, mainly because it is based in reason instead of faith. The whole point of religion is to believe in something you cannot see, so you cannot make a logical argument in support of it. That makes this film's fight a relatively easy win for the atheists, if you're keeping score with logic. If that was the whole story, it would be unlikely that anyone outside of atheists would watch this movie. Instead, it looks at Jesus through the concept of folklore, and the power that it can have even if it didn't truly happen. While it's true that the film isn't exactly embracing religion with open arms (and is truthfully quite bitter toward it), this film is informed with the feelings of the director, Brian Flemming (off-broadway hit "Bat Boy: The Musical") who attended a Christian school and was a believer until his mind was changed. The interview he has with the director of his former school explains much about why he holds the views he holds, a matter he puts an exclamation point on with the final scene. The look of the film is very slick, with excellent editing, combining old silent films with TV clips and new footage to create an engaging documentary. In one of the film's stand-out passages, Flemming talks about the interest in Mel Gibson's successful Christ film, and breaks down the amount of violence in the film, using unauthorized footage from the film. The way this segment is edited makes for a harrowing experience, and points out how it plays to an increasingly aggressive form of Christianity that is disturbing and frightening. The movie does have its shortcomings, mostly in Flemming's somewhat smarmy narration, which is bound to put some people off. The film could also use about 30 more minutes in length. Including some moderate Christians to balance the ledger against the atheists and extreme Christians, and giving more time to discuss the complex issues would make for a more well-rounded film. Though the subject matter is highly interesting, it's a one-sided subject. Delving more into the political and sociological implications of the topic would have been great. Perhaps The Beast, the fictional version of this film coming out in 2006, will do a more in-depth job of exploring Jesus. The DVD On one DVD, the 62-minute movie and a bunch of extras are included, packed in a keepcase. The disc features a static full-frame main menu, which allows viewers to choose to watch the film, select chapters, view bonus features, or sample the music in the movie. The chapter selection menus have a nice group of animated previews and titles for each scene. There are no language options, subtitles or closed captioning. The Quality This full-frame film is made up of source materials and new footage that are of very different levels of visual quality. Some of the older films included have dirt and damage, but for movies more than 100 years old, they look pretty good. They certainly look better than some of the older TV footage. The new video is clean and crisp, with bright color and no dirt or damage, but some slight pixilation is visible. Overall, the movie looks pretty good, mostly depending on the source of the material on-screen. The audio, presented in simple Dolby Digital 2.0, is strong and clear, with a quality mix of music and dialogue. Sound effects, like the horrifying lashing in the clips from The Passion of the Christ, are just about crystal clear. It's a simple presentation, but a good one. The Extras Two audio commentaries are the biggest extras, but they really aren't commentaries. The first track is actually a phone interview by Flemming with Earl Doherty, the author of The Jesus Puzzle, an exploration of the idea that Jesus never lived. It can be a bit dry at times, but if you find the movie interesting, this interview will be fascinating to you, as Flemming and Doherty discuss all manner of topics related to the history of Jesus. The second track, titled "The Atheists" is hosted by Flemming, and features clips from several interviews with people in the film, including Richard Carrier, Robert M. Price, Richard Dawkins and The Raving Atheist. Like Flemming says, it's like a radio show, and the pace is pretty good, as the clips are edited together well. Like the first track, this is a great listen if you find the movie to be interesting, especially the talk about a possible American theocracy and holocaust. Seven extended interview clips with the subjects of the documentary are included. In a cute touch, the clips clock in at a total of 66:06. Not everything here would have worked in the movie, but they are good to have, as they fill out the story of the documentary. The clip with Barbara and David Mikkelson, the people behind urban-legend Web site Snopes.com, is particularly good, as they discuss a legend involving religion, and how it has an easy side to accept and a more difficult part that requires looking beyond the appealing aspects. These are the questions that the thoughtlessly religious people refuse to ask. There's a excellent slide show titled "Explore the Myth," which looks at the stories about Jesus and traces them throughout time, examining their effect right up through to today's dangerous extremist conservatism, which has left America fractured. If you install the DVD@ccess software included on the DVD, viewing the slide show on DVD-ROM will open Web sites related to the material. The same feature is used on the Cast and Crew bios, which are text screens about those who participated in the movie. Available on the main menu is an option called "Music," which offers four tracks of music from the soundtrack. Only one "Is This The Real Thing?" is the full-length song, while the other three are clips either 30 seconds or 60 seconds long. The songs, created by DJ Madson, using remixes of artists like David Byrne and Thievery Corporation, are good electronica/instrumental tracks, and worked well in the documentary. Here they are mainly promotional pieces for the soundtrack. The Bottom Line Utilizing very modern film techniques and a good sense of humor, Flemming explores the concept of a mythological Jesus with a solid basis in reality. More likely than not, this movie will speak solely to the choir, which is just sad. The idea that a religious person couldn't handle a questioning of their faith exposes a weakness of the soul that really should be discussed. This DVD delivers the film in a quality presentation, with extras that quadruple the amount of content in a positive way with no filler. This is a film that will make you think, while still being entertaining, though its points will be lost on those who could really benefit from it. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=13672 You know how Christianity is one of the world’s most powerful religions, one that dictates the political policies of entire nations? And you know how millions of people have been persecuted or even killed in the name of Jesus Christ? And you know how entire corporations work overtime to appease the demands (and gain the spending money) of fundamentalist Christians? Well, um, hey. Funny story. Turns out this Jesus guy never actually existed. Huh. At least, that’s the argument posed by Brian Flemming in his destined-to-be-controversial documentary “The God Who Wasn’t There.” His film sets out to debunk the very basis of Christianity, and he doesn’t too shabby of a job, either. Flemming gets his key arguments out of the way pretty early. The main issues at hand are the notions that the story of Jesus seems to have much in common with familiar myths, and that there are no contemporary accounts of Jesus to be found in historical writings. For the former, interviewees discuss how early Christians, in writing parables about a son of God, lifted popular hero themes, with the story of Jesus matching many points found in the legends of such characters as Hercules and Dionysus; also, the idea of Jesus as one brutally killed fits with fashionable themes of sacrifice. For the latter, Flemming’s research points out that no accounts written in the time of Jesus mention him at all; he doesn’t pop up at all until around 70 AD, and those accounts read as fairly allegorical. The most important argument the film makes, however, comes as a question: why is it that in any other area of life, the burden of proof is on the one making the claim - but in faith, the burden of proof sits on the shoulders of the disbeliever? As one interviewee puts it, any time someone pops up to say they saw a UFO, they’re shouted down by rational thinkers demanding proof. But any time a neighbor, minister, or United States president stands up and starts talking about an invisible man in the sky, it’s considered in bad taste to ask him to kindly back things up. Of course, at the very heart of religion is the purity of believing without proof. But what happens when proof starts to win out? Ah, that’s when the leaders learn to cover their tracks, be it with shaky comments (“the Bible is real because it says it’s real”), defense that relies on further faith (“other instances of messiah prophecy fulfillment before the time of Christ were created by the devil in a smart bit of pre-planned lie-making”), or, most effective of all, the ol’ sit-down-and-shut-up strike (“to deny the Holy Spirit is the only unforgivable sin”). “The greatest crime in fundamentalist Christianity,” Flemming tells us in his narration, “is to think.” Pretty heavy stuff, yes? The problem here is that Flemming doesn’t go as in depth with his arguments as he should. For some reason, he cuts himself off early (the running time is a mere 62 minutes, and that’s including credits), when there’s obviously enough discussion material to keep him going for much longer - and with the opposing arguments such comments are bound to attract, the more ammunition Flemming can have at his side, the better. (The DVD of the film includes hours of extra commentary and interviews to help Flemming’s case - so why not include some of this information in the film itself?) Even if Flemming were locked into that 62 minute running time, he could have placed this information in the unnecessary middle section, in which he sidetracks to discuss Christianity’s fixation on bloodshed, going so far as to display a minute-by-minute account of the violence seen in “The Passion of the Christ” (or as Flemming jokingly calls it, “The Smashin’ of the Christ”). It’s a fascinating topic - but here, with priorities being elsewhere in such a short presentation, it really belongs in another movie. The same can be said with Flemming’s other sidetrack, which dares to ask why the Inquisition is looked down upon by modern Christians, considering how those kooky Spaniards were just going by what it says to do in the Bible. It’s too glossed over to fully work, although the point comes across enough: why believe in Jesus unless you’re willing to go whole hog with the religion? How can followers cherry pick their beliefs? Ah, that’s the question that leads us to the real point of the movie. For “The God Who Wasn’t There” is, after all the snarky commentary and historical digging, nothing but an autobiography about Flemming’s crisis of faith. We learn that Flemming is a former born-again Christian who began to seriously doubt his beliefs once he was told not to bother looking too deeply into things. We’re taken back to Flemming’s old school, where he was taught rigid conformity and an overwhelming doctrine. He confronts his old schoolmaster with his doubts and with his issues with being so strict with the students - a conversation that becomes more involving on a personal level than on an intellectual one. His return to the school’s chapel manages to compress the entire film into a few short minutes: here’s a guy who’s angry with his past, and we get to watch him deal with it, frustration and all. And that’s why Flemming’s movie is worth watching. The film is well researched, true, and there’s a heavy dose of wit that makes it all gleefully entertaining, yes, but this is more about a personal journey, and watching Flemming’s inner anger spill out is powerful stuff. Finally, it should be noted that despite the nature of the film, and despite Fleming’s tendency to side with those agreeing with him (an obvious case in such a film, but it’s worth mentioning to those of you who might think this, being a documentary, comes without a bias), the movie is never condescending to Christians themselves. Flemming’s not ashamed to say that he found Scott Butcher, webmaster behind RaptureLetters.com (where believers can request an email to be sent to unbelieving loved ones after they get called up to heaven during the end times), to be a nice, warm, smart fellow, despite his looking and sounding silly. His man-on-the-street interviews, held before and after a Billy Graham crusade, are quite friendly. He’s not afraid to add comments from one Jesus-is-fiction believer that the guy still loves the religion anyway, because of all that’s good about it. Another filmmaker would’ve edited this stuff to make himself look better (and/or his opposition look worse), but Flemming wisely keeps it all there, showing us a more involving warts-and-all account of himself. So will “The God Who Wasn’t There” change any minds? Perhaps a few, but not more than that. Its arguments are too thin as seen here on their own, its presentation a bit too unfocused to hit as sharply as it could have, and, most of all, people are simply too stubborn to be bothered with viewpoints not agreeing with their own. But with luck, it will get people thinking, talking, arguing, and perhaps that is all Flemming really wants. If a religion so powerful demands that questions not be asked, the film suggests, maybe it’s for the best to ask away. And Flemming’s daring enough to get us started. Submitted by Robert48911@earthlink.net |
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