Review of Jesus Camp (2006) by Brad S — 27 Dec 2009

This is an interesting look at charasmatic evangelicals in America. The documentary tackles a number of subjects but most specifically the education of children in the evangelical community. As a whole I'd have to say the documentary is biased and agenda driven and uses sensational illustrations to make its point.

Being raised evangelical I never experienced a camp like this and to be honest the camp I did experience wouldn't make for a very good movie as most people would find it kind of benign. As a result I'm not sure the film was as even as it should have been - instead of looking for truth the directors were looking for controversy.

Admitedly they found what they where looking for, but you can find weird contorversial people in any movement, political party, or religion. Jesus Camp isn't interested in the truth, it's simply interested in telling the story of a freak show, which audiences will always respond to with gasps, finger pointing, laughter and looks of horror.

And that might be fun in the moment, but all you've really done is make fun of people - you certainly haven't made anything better.