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SYNOPSIS:
A growing number of evangelical Christians believe there is
a revival underway in America that requires Christian youth
to assume leadership roles in advocating the causes of their
religious movement. JESUS CAMP follows Levi, Rachael, and
Tory to Pastor Becky Fischer's "Kids on Fire" summer
camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota, where kids as young as
6 years-old are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers
in "God's army." The film follows these children
at camp as they hone their "prophetic gifts" and
are schooled in how to "take back America for Christ.".
MOVIE
REVIEW
It’s
already a well known fact that living in multi-racial Singapore,
you’d probably have to be very careful with anything
that may create unrest amongst the different races and religions
here. While we are not the most knowledgeable people to talk
about religion, we will try our very best not to offend any
particular party (in this case, the evangelical Christians)
in this review. The last thing we would want happen is for
my esteemed webmaster to get infuriated because readers boycott
the site because of insensitive reviewers like me. Whether
this DVD will fly off shelves here in Singapore, we shall
wait and see.
Okay,
we shall stop avoiding touchy the issue and get on with this.
In America, while some kids happily go to summer camp to have
the time of their lives, there is a group who go to Devil’s
Lake, North Dakota to attend the “Kids on Fire”
summer camp. The Oscar-nominated documentary follows three
preteens as they are prepared to propogate the community’s
religious and political intentions when they grow up.
If you
are not an evangelical Christian, watching this 87-minute
documentary will expose you to the shocking and disturbing
world that is religiously extreme in nature. It is without
a doubt that directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady have agenda
to push. It’s almost horrifying to see these young six-year-olds
become spokespeople for the religious movement.
There
are scenes of kids speaking in tongues, tears rolling down
their small faces, faithfully pledge their allegiance to the
Bible and enjoying Christian rock and roll. It makes you think
how these kids are different from other kids. Had they not
been indoctrinated into this following, would their lives
involve more of spider catching in the open fields? Would
their lives not be so influenced by religion which will probably
shape their future? It’s almost upsetting and alarming
to know that this is actually happening out there.
Then there
is the political part that found its way into the documentary.
You see sessions where political figures (in the form of amusing
cut-out cardboard pieces) being involved in the sessions.
And presto, religion and politics have interestingly fused
together to attain other objectives.
It is
difficult to find this documentary objective, but there is
nothing wrong here, because the filmmakers have created a
very informative and unique standpoint which sheds light on
the world non evangelical Christians may never know about.
In one very disconcerting scene as the documentary ends, we
see a girl walk up to three men and ask them whether they
know where they’d go after they die. They reply “Heaven”
and the girl asks them whether they are sure. They reply with
a firm “Yes” and the girl walks away and mutters
“I think they were Muslim”.
Shudders.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains a Director’s
Commentary where Ewing and Grady talk about how the
camp leader Becky Fischer makes for a great documentary subject
because she has a three dimensional character and has no bars
held about her faith. They also talk about the supernatural
and militaristic nature of the faith which can be rather touchy
and sensitive to deal with. Interestingly, these two filmmakers
do not go on yakking like many of the other audio commentaries
we have heard. There are also 15 Deleted Scenes
where we hear more extreme interviews (one says that speaking
in tongue is a gift), and see more scenes of the preteens
in their religious sessions.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
We
have no complaints about the disc’s visual transfer,
and is presented in its original English soundtrack.
MOVIE
RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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