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  Matt
  
Willis
Jesus Camp
USA, 2006
[Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady]
Becky Fischer, Ted Haggard, Mike Papantonio
Documentary
2nd August
2008
If there�s one surefire way to rile me up, it�s to show me the ever-disturbing antics of the God-botherers. Specifically the extra-crazy ones from the American South. Seemingly not content with destroying the constitution of the United States, fighting holy wars and waiting for Jesus to return so he can usher in the apocalypse, they�ve always had a penchant for warping the minds of the most impressionable amongst us. Usually this is people on the edge of sanity, but increasingly it is the most impressionable amongst us: our children.

This is the crux of Jesus Camp, a documentary that does a very good job of showing, simply showing, how evangelical religious extremists indoctrinate children from a very young age to believe in their articles of faith. Being evangelicals of course, they spend about as much time talking about politics (specifically what they see as the unjust separation of church and state in the constitution), war and never questioning those in a position of religious authority. Dangerous stuff I�m sure you agree.

The spokesperson for all this is Becky Fischer, the overweight and loud superintendant of the summer camp, located amusingly just outside Devil�s Lake, North Dakota. While she clearly cares about the children and isn�t a particularly unpleasant person, her privy is to prepare the children for the religious life ahead of them by all means possible, including their speaking in tongues (which is hilarious) and going out themselves to proselytize. We are also introduced to three wee nippers, Levi the mulleted preacher, Rachel the ADD sufferer, and Tory the dancer, who appears to have a fine life in porn ahead of her. We mostly see the camp and all its joys through their eyes, and to their credit they are definitely having a good time.

The documentary itself is unusual in featuring no narration whatsoever and only a minor amount of written direction. While it is clearly filmed and edited in such a way as to highlight the less desirable aspects of the camp, mostly the cast of characters are left to their own devices. Fischer even helped promote the film around the country, which is an odd thing to do for something cast in a somewhat unflattering light, at least to those of us outside of the religious right. To those on the inside though, this isn�t a negative portrayal at all, and might help to win over some converts. It�s a funny old world.

Oh, and check out a pre-scandal Ted Haggard railing against homosexuality. Priceless.
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