Sometimes a film has such a powerful effect, via such a subtle and esoteric method that you wonder if the filmmaker knew what she was doing.
Superficially, this is an expose of a dirty business. It works at that level, because it has so many elements in it that have a cultural momentum of their own:
— Fundamentalists are all low class nut jobs who take solace in superstitious nonsense.
— Preachers are all con men who use fear and solace, lies and charisma to tease dollars, sex and loyalty out of these goobs.
— But the music is often good enough for us to want to be there; the energy is often mesmerizing and mass orgasm is not to be sneered at.
But scratch the surface only a tiny bit, and it is hard to know who is conning whom. Our hero is as smoothly glib when in the outer performance as in the inner ones. There is scant difference in how he cajoles us into a story, one that makes no more sense than the one he is exposing. In fact, the magic of this is that there is heavy tension between these two stories. One is a story about an earnest preacher, saving people in performances where he reveals the truth and empowers souls. The other, well it is the same with less strutting. One enfolds the other.
We've seen that before. But never have I seen it coming from, initiated and presented by a single soul. No, two should in one body, each believing the other to be an interloping demon. Joe fights Mar . Profound stuff that should be seen before you shape your own story and performances.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
Superficially, this is an expose of a dirty business. It works at that level, because it has so many elements in it that have a cultural momentum of their own:
— Fundamentalists are all low class nut jobs who take solace in superstitious nonsense.
— Preachers are all con men who use fear and solace, lies and charisma to tease dollars, sex and loyalty out of these goobs.
— But the music is often good enough for us to want to be there; the energy is often mesmerizing and mass orgasm is not to be sneered at.
But scratch the surface only a tiny bit, and it is hard to know who is conning whom. Our hero is as smoothly glib when in the outer performance as in the inner ones. There is scant difference in how he cajoles us into a story, one that makes no more sense than the one he is exposing. In fact, the magic of this is that there is heavy tension between these two stories. One is a story about an earnest preacher, saving people in performances where he reveals the truth and empowers souls. The other, well it is the same with less strutting. One enfolds the other.
We've seen that before. But never have I seen it coming from, initiated and presented by a single soul. No, two should in one body, each believing the other to be an interloping demon. Joe fights Mar . Profound stuff that should be seen before you shape your own story and performances.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.