Crazy Christians by Josh

When I first watched Grizzly Man I was not ready for the bias, for the heavy dose of the director's opinion. I was immediately swayed by Herzog's view, and it took me quite some time before I realized how much his opinion had actually affected mine. This time however, I came prepared. I was on my guard for sneaky opinionated comments. I prepared myself for the director's argument. I put my shield up and my spy glasses on, and what i saw was quite interesting indeed. I realize that there is only so much that Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing could influence in their documentary Jesus Camp due to the fact that it is much more of a raw film. There is only one voice over and very little back round music. But the influence is there. The film begins with a radio host discussing how crazy these people are. Immediately, the viewer's first idea is that these evangelicals are wacko. Very soon after are shot of the kids crying and praising God in tongues. Placed strategically after this statistics appear on the screen that display how many evangelicals there are in the United States. What the directors do not do however, is draw the line between regular evangelicals, and this small sect. It appears to the viewer who doesn't know better that all evangelicals are this way. All the while these statistics are on the screen tragically sad music plays in the background.

The only voice over I could find in the whole film is also strategically placed. It happens when Rachel is bowling. I included the scene above. Her voice plays in the background, praying for a good shot. As she walks away after her turn, the camera is strategically placed so that one can see the ball going into the lane over her shoulder as she walks away. She was shown praying, a prayer which was intentionally edited into that specific scene, and her prayer is not answered. However crazy these people are, there is no denying that the directors of this film had an agenda. These biased scenes continue throughout the film. A dog is shown rolling it eyes during their special pledge. Becky Fischer is displayed intentionally as a crazy lady. She may be, but the scenes that are chosen throughout the film are no coincidence. Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing try to discredit christianity by using these extremist evangelicals. By not drawing the line between this small sect and the average christian they create a hazy boundary that gradually seeps into all of christianity.