Religulous (Larry Charles 2008)
Posted on February 22 at 19.55, 2009 by Eric Mahleb
If you enjoy the format of Michael Moore’s documentaries, then you will certainly appreciate Religulous, Bill Maher and Larry Charles’ (who directed the incredibly funny Borat (2006)) take on the state of religion in today’s society.
If on the other hand, you tend to idolize documentary filmmakers such as Marcel Ophüls, Errol Morris, or Jean Rouch, it is then likely that the selective and superficial approach that Charles and Maher use to portray everyone they meet as dumb and confused will not leave you impressed.
While i am a little put off by Moore and Charles’ techniques, i find their documentaries nonetheless extremely entertaining. I can see clearly how they manipulate and edit out everything that does not serve their purpose, thereby providing a very black and white view of the topic, and a part of me condemns this as easy and one-dimensional filmmaking. I also think that this strategy is clearly not ideal if one wants to try to convince ‘the other side’ or simply to try to broaden their horizons a bit. In fact, it seems that these types of documentaries mainly preach to the choir. But another part of me also enjoys these cheap manipulations of these people who i so strongly disagree with. A low emotion perhaps, a shadenfreude-type pleasure at seeing bigots be put on the spot, which is perhaps the best we can get since in most cases we will not be able to change their perception of reality.
Bill Maher is not known for mincing his words and he certainly lets loose nicely in Religulous, bombarding incredulous believers with facts that that should make anyone think twice about everything they may have ever been thought or may have ever believed about religion. Religion may have some positives, but when one looks at history and at the state of our society today, it is difficult to see the benefits of a world being ruled by religion. Wherever one turns, there is the intolerance and the prejudice of religion being forced onto others. Whether after watching Gus Van Sant’s fabulous Milk (2008) and being reminded that so many people consider their fellow human beings abnormal because of their sexual preference, or after reading the story of how the Vatican and that clown Berlusconi tried to stop a mother and a father from letting their daughter die after she spent the last 17 years in a coma, it is so unfortunately clear that religion is not making the world a better place and it is not helping people love one another.
Would a world without religion be better? I can’t say that i know for sure, but we have tried religion already and it’s not working. So, why don’t we try something new?
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