Religulous

Religulous isn’t as much a documentary as it is Bible Borat. Bill Maher isn’t researching or objectively examining the history of religion; as such, anyone expecting the film to meet the basic criteria of documentary filmmaking will be disappointed. It’s more undercutting and opinionated than even the most passionate work of Michael Moore. But Maher’s finest attribute, from his days as a stand-up comic to his late-night talk shows, has always been his smarmy, self-assured pseudo-intellectualism — we’re never quite convinced that he’s nearly as smart as he thinks he is, but that’s okay, because it’s part of his act, which happens to be extremely funny. Whether or not you agree with Maher is irrelevant, because half the fun is seeing the rise he gets out of people with his very presence. (In one of the film’s most amusing segments, a “Holy Land amusement park” manager interrupts an interview Maher is conducting with a fake Jesus to chew out an employee for not alerting her of Maher’s presence in advance, “because of the type of movies he makes.”)

Much of the humour in Religulous is rooted in the same awkward social contrasts as Borat, which was also directed by Larry Charles. It’s situation comedy at its finest.

If anything, Religulous is more consistent, because it is spared the great disservice of introducing a tiresome theatrical subplot for its last act (remember how old the whole Pam Anderson thing got in the other movie?). This film approaches its content as a documentary, without a narrative tacked on, which incidentally makes it far more engaging.

Most of Religulous is spent with Charles and his crew following Maher around America as he interviews various everyday people of religious faith. The first half of the film is centered on Christianity, with Maher interrupting a truck stop church service to do Q&A with its followers, and eventually interviewing an “ex-gay” man who runs a center to help “cure” the sin of homosexuality for its clients. Maher has great fun pointing out how silly the whole thing is — even going so far as to tell the reformed homosexual that he still looks rather gay. “You’re handsome and clean, not at all like me,” Maher explains. “If I saw you in a bar, I’d think, That guy looks gay.” His subject finally starts to catch on to the sarcasm midway through the interview.

Some of the laughs are cheap, to be sure. In fact, almost all of them are. And there’s no denying that Maher pushes some of his willing participants way too far (the “ex-gay” man being one of them). You almost begin to feel sorry for them, because they exhibit a great deal of patience and respect for their interrogator — except for one or two people towards the end of the film (one of them being a Jewish radical who attended a holocaust denial conference with the French president, who rambles endlessly, refusing to let Maher intervene until he eventually just gets up and walks out).

Bill Maher interviews Fake Jesus #1

Maher has a habit of undermining his subjects with sarcastic subtitles, amusing video clips or out-of-context segments (for example, after interviewing the “fake” Jesus at the Holy Land theme park, we immediately cut to footage of a crucifixion re-enactment that the park apparently stages every day, showing the previously interviewed Fake Jesus stumbling towards a Fake Cross, being whipped by a Fake Roman Guard, as an active audience of tourists applauds, many of them moved to tears. The applause is quite obviously inter-cut from other moments and not synchronous with what is being shown to us — especially not as Fake Jesus mounts the Fake Cross, when the camera cuts to a crowd of people cheering — but manipulative editing makes these moments more overtly humorous and ironic; it’s very poor form for a documentary, sure, but it certainly gives Charles’ film an acidic bite and is a perfect accessory to Maher’s acrimony).

The movie’s first half contains more laughs than the second (which is when Maher begins globe-trotting). I’m not sure if this is because Maher finds it easier (and, hence, funnier) to antagonize Christians as opposed to, say, Muslims, or if it’s the language barriers he encounters, or if it’s just because the second half becomes a lot preachier and bogged-down with dramatics (the last five minutes are either self-consciously bad or just plain bad).

Regardless, the film is very entertaining, and — in spite of what some may consider to be a poor approach to documentary filmmaking — ends up being one of the better comedies I’ve seen this year; one that doesn’t necessarily raise a balanced discussion, but a discussion nonetheless.

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Tagged as: bill maher, larry charles, movie reviews