Yesterday, on the Christian Sabbath, I went and saw Religulous — a fitting tribute, I thought, to my unbelief. It was excellent — funny, smart, and made its point clear without being overly didactic. Maher is hilarious and the questions he put to others were usually intelligent and challenging.
It was fun watching it with a group of like-minded people. I went to a small indie theatre and it was (very surprisingly) packed to capacity. Lots of laughing and enjoyment. I was surprised by how many older people were there too — I expected it to draw a younger crowd, but perhaps this simply reflects the demographics of my area.
Some scenes stick out, like when Sen. Mark Pryor said the self-incriminating “you don’t have to have an IQ test to get in the Senate”; the clapping and cheering of fundies as they watched an enactment of Jesus being beaten; Muslims insisting their religion was peaceful and the violence was all due to “politics”; the “ex-Jew for Jesus” whose reason for believing in Jesus was it rained once when he prayed (too bad he wasn’t asked to repeat that miracle right then, and then challenged to keep a journal of how many times it doesn’t happen compared to how many times it does — of course it will happen occasionally, since rain is quite a regular, natural event!).
Another favorite scene was when Francis Collins said the Bible was written by eyewitnesses, but when pressed admitted it was people close to eyewitnesses (which is the same as non-eyewitnesses), then when pressed further admitted it was by non-eyewitnesses written decades after. Priceless!
I agree with others that the two priest interviews were excellent. Especially the “senior vatican scholar” who was quite unorthodox and hilarious.
I am disappointed in the way they secured the interviews, however. Wikipedia says:
Maher stated he used a fake title for the film to obtain interviews: “We never, ever, used my name. We never told anybody it was me who was going to do the interviews. We even had a fake title for the film. We called it ‘A Spiritual Journey.’ It didn’t work everywhere. We went to Salt Lake City, but no one would let us film there at all.” Creationist Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis, who appeared in the movie, was critical of what he called Maher’s “deception” to obtain the interview.
I rarely agree with Ken Ham, but I also find that distasteful and deceptive. Expelled was guilty of the same nonsense and critics had a fit over it. Maher should have picked the higher road.
There were a couple production gaffes — a boom mic came down when talking with Sen. Pryor, for instance, which could have been edited out in post-production. I was also surprised they referred to the book of Revelation as “Revelations” (it is not plural). But in general it was very well done.
I’d give Religulous 4/5 stars, and highly recommend you see it with other like-minded locals.
Debbie: It must be such a rewarding life making others’ lives... 
John C: Anti-no, “I” dont have any credibility either but the difference is that “I”m not... 
Custador: “Matt and Mark record “My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken me?”; John, “It is finished”; and Luke,... 
Daniel Florien: When you have indigestion when you’re reading it, you know it’s true! 
Mary Lynne: Hmm – I wonder what a “true fairy tale” would be. Is that like jumbo... 
Antiutopia: John C — Christ himself doesn’t have any credibility with these ignorant morons — do you... 
Uzza: Cool story. It reminds me of Confucius, meeting the mad hermit of Chu, who told him it was... 
7 Comments
I think you mean Expelled. Easy mistake to make, though (follow the link to see why!)
I think I’ll see it if it ever comes out on DVD. I have some friends who will enjoy that kind of business.
Thanks wazza, I’ve fixed the name.
Sadly, I can’t find a showing within 100 miles of me. :( My wife and I both want to see this!
My Dad and I enjoyed the film.
I too was not happy with the deception used to make it. I understand that they would have never gotten most of the interviews if they were honest, but it still bothers me.
Oh come on! Really? You thought it was great? It had the same fascination going for it that draws a crowd when the school bully beats up a disabled kid. I went with my son hoping to see religious hypocrites and liars exposed. What we saw was something quite different. It is one thing to pull someone off a pedestal it is quite another to abuse the kindness of strangers.
Maher was thrown for a full day loop when a truck driver with a beer belly compared the Trinity with the different phases of water. Any university student with an interest in sceptical philosophy could have responded to that. It is clear that Maher did NO preparation for his “journey”.
It would have been good if he had taken this opportunity to ask the right questions to the right people. Now he has so poisoned the well that I doubt anyone with a reasoned reply to his questions will ever allow a camera into their office for fear of looking stupid and then ridiculed afterwards with no chance to respond.
At least you recognize the ethical flaws in the collection of the video clips. Of course the people behind Borat would put together a clip show of this sort. This kind of gotcha! documentary style journalism should simply not be supported in Michael Moore videos, Expelled or Religulous.
As ethical, honest seekers of the truth we have got to be above this kind of thing. We should see our response to this as an indicator of what is really going on inside our heads. Are humanists looking for truth or are they just another group of agnostic pagans looking to throw stones at anyone who thinks differently?
I smell a concern troll…
burn the troll!
BURN IT!!!
liberal chemist – i thought i was the only person in the world who hates Borat!!
i cantcoment on the movie as it hasn’t reached plymouth, uk yet but my partner is v excited about it.