Review of Marjoe (1972) by Nathan F — 11 Jul 2009

Marjoe is an interesting little documentary and sometimes funny. Sometimes it tries too hard, as when the camera is positioned beneath a woman preaching so that the vent above her head looks like a halo - really? Mostly, though, it doesn't get too much further than its premise: Christian evangelism is a con, a lucrative business where preachers lie and lie and lie in order to get you to empty your pocketbooks.

The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin makes an interesting point in his review of the DVD: "[Marjoe's] confessions are so guarded and calculated that they barely qualify as confessions at all." I'd have to agree. There will be a quick scene of him in a hotel room, documenting the how-to of making it seem like you're washed in the blood of Jesus and getting the audience to believe in your act. But then the majority of the movie is just scenes of Marjoe courting the people in the churches he preaches at, dancing around the stage like Mick Jagger and gesturing wildly. It gets old kind of quick. I wish I had counted how many time Marjoe actually says the word "Jesus" in this film, because it's gotta be something like 500 times, no joke. If I ever hear the word "Jesus" again, I might go insane.

Not to say that the movie is bad. There are a few moments, such as when our hero(?) is having dinner with another preacher friend, where he coaxes out of his hosts details of their vast wealth. The land they bought in South America, and how they intend to sell it to a company that makes Corn Flakes. Then, as an added bonus, he gets them talking about how the people in their church are "intelligent" and would be able to spot a fraud immediately. Little do they know, they are sitting with a fraud!

But, again, that's the most of it. You get a little bit of an idea of Marjoe's '70s hippie persona, some vague ideas about hate being an unnecessary emotion. And he wonders whether he is a bad person at one point, but not with much emphasis. No, mostly the movie is content just to show people writhing around on the floor and pretending to speak in tongues and Marjoe all the while smiling over them. This kid has been preaching the word of Besus since he was four years of age, and yet the movie doesn't do much to address that. Marjoe has to be seriously fucked up psychologically, and yet the filmmakers were more content to sit around making fun of religion than to explore anything in-depth. Don't get me wrong, I love sitting around making fun of religion as much as the next guy, but I don't release documentaries about it. Bill Maher's much maligned Religulous looks like a sober analysis of religious belief by comparison.

I like to think that I take movies for what they are, rather than what I think that they should have been. But I don't think that I'm being unfair here. Marjoe's false evangelism is just the tip of an iceberg that never gets explored any further. Maybe he was unwilling to let the filmmakers get closer to him, but I think a lot of the blame lies on the people making the movie for not pushing him more. Heh heh, wouldn't it be awesome if I wore a wig so none of the Christians knew I have long hair, and then I could take the wig off and freak them out? No, it would be awesome if you utilized your interview subject in any meaningful way.

I guess I liked Marjoe, but the more I think about it, the more I'm disappointed in the way it turned out.