We're going to the special hell...

The Movie: Jesus Camp, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
Recommendation: Broomie
Reason: "You hadn't seen a good horror movie in awhile."

Levi is a shy kid. Rachael is precocious. But it's Tori who made me weep. Tori, the little girl who really likes to dance, but admits that sometimes she 'dances for the flesh', and she needs to stop that. Consider that statement for a moment. A child who loves to dance, chastising herself for not thinking of God every time she moves. I might be exactly the kind of horrible person that the Evangelical Christian movement loathes with every fiber of their being, but I can't find it in myself to hate them the same way. Levi, Rachael, Tori and their peers are the reason why. Their passion for the Lord matches the love for Jesus I had when I was their age. In fact, I saw far too much of my young self in Rachael. I carried a Bible with me, prayed to myself, though I never preached to strangers. That took a sort of courage I didn't have when I was young.

The directors of this film did an excellent job reminding we the viewers that the people we were watching were real children, sometimes shy, sometimes happy, and sometimes engaging in behavior so terrifying it took my breath away. What child really understands the meaning of dying for the Lord? Should a children's Sunday school performance resemble melee practice? What child has the capacity to reason through complex political issues (and these abound in Jesus Camp) and come up with their own decision? These are questions Jesus Camp raises, and the answers that the Evangelical movement demonstrates are hideous. It's important to note how united the film's fans are-Evangelical and 'Liberal' alike. Many of the Evangelical Christians who have seen this film wholly support it and the message that they are portrayed as sending-that they are at war with Satan, and the battleground is the political landscape of America.

I live in Canada, and I'm tempted to give my country a huge hug after seeing this film. The crazy fundie movement hasn't got quite as large a foothold here as it does in the south (except in Alberta, where the Mormons are quite widespread). Anyone who wants a quick education in what these people believe and what they're doing about it needs to see this movie. Soon.

-44/365 down, 321/365 to go