Review of Jesus Camp (2006) by Breandán M — 29 Oct 2008

After Bill Mahr's movie, I was reminded that I found this one really troubling too--in a way much more insidious than Religulous. I was troubled because I think the message of Jesus Camp is an interesting one--that these evangelical youth programs are consciously trying to use emotional manipulation to secure unswerving, irrational loyalty from vulnerable children. The factual info is better in JC than Mahr's, and the interviews with Creationist homeschooling parents, the crazy and oddly likeable youth leader who wants to train your kids for Christian Jihad, and (most of all) the fervently beliving young girl who really does have that joy joy joy joy down in her heart... make the enterprise worth a glance.

But in the end the film betrays itself. The filmmakers use eerie, ominous music, lighting, camera angles, and suspiciously spliced interviews and scenes, to do precisely what they criticize the camps for doing...to manipulate the viewer into being creeped out on an emotional, rather than simply an analytical level. It would be more powerful if they explored the reality of these programs' overtly stated purpose, the believing children and these intense public confession scenes--without resorting to manipulative cinematography.