RELIGULOUS

“RELIGULOUS” (Bill Maher)
I’m not a big fan of documentaries – the last four I went to were “Sicko”, “An Inconvenient Truth”, “March Of The Penguins” & “Fahrenheit 9/11” They were all mildly entertaining, but mostly educational (& I don’t like to put new info into my cranium as I fear it will push out relevant facts such as ‘Who wrote ‘Dandy’ for Herman’s Hermits?’)
This documentary was more entertaining than it was educational. Although the first thing I said to my wife when it ended was, “Unfortunately the people who should see this film, won’t.”
I would implore anyone who has been a low-impact church goer (You go on the days you feel you ‘have’ to; Christmas, Easter, etc.) or anyone who has questioned some of the stories that have been written as to how mankind came into being – to go see this film.
#1 – You more than likely will laugh more than you have at any documentary you have ever seen & #2 – You just might have an enlightened experience as to what religion actually stands for around this orb we call earth.
Bill Maher is a non-believer who was brought up Catholic & was forced to go to church services every Sunday with his father & sister. Mom never went. When he became an adult Bill discovered his mother was Jewish, but allowed dad to bring the kids up believing what he believed. Bill even admits to praying to God when he was in his forties after going thru a tough break-up with a longtime love interest. So the man knows his religion; knows what it’s like to be religious. What he does mainly in this documentary is travel around the world & asks various religious ‘staples’ – What do you believe & WHY do you believe it? The first question is easily answered, the latter isn’t.
Many times Bill isn’t even allowed to ask his questions because someone in PR recognizes him & has him ‘removed’ from the premises.
I’ve heard reviewers say that Bill doesn’t poke fun at the people he’s interviewing & for the most part that is true – he doesn't do it during the interviews – but in post production editing many film clips & captions are used to do just that. So if you are a person of a strong faith, this movie isn’t for you – You will be insulted because the filmmakers go after every known religion (& A couple of unknowns as well)
There is one scene with the most refreshing priest I’ve ever seen – I wondered why he would still stay in the ‘business’ after making some very strong un-priestlike comments on Jesus & those who take the bible literally as the word of God.
A Senator from Arkansas is interviewed and comes across as a fairly intelligent man, but the more Maher questions him on his ‘beliefs’ the more uncomfortable & less chatty the good Senator becomes. I liked him, actually – he knew when to shut up instead of continuing to sling the B.S. (like most politicians would)
That’s the pattern that emerges – those that allow Bill to complete his interviews are more than happy to espouse on ‘what’ they believe, but don’t seem to have a realistic explanation as to ‘why’ they believe it.
There’s a scene where some whacky theologian is building a religious museum where one of the exhibits shows plastics dinosaurs frolicking beside a pond with plastic human children – just to show that dinosaurs & mankind could have existed at the same time...
No, I am not making that up.
Even though I said this was an entertaining documentary (I even caught my spiritual, Catholic schooled wife chuckling on several occasions) I also feel it is an important one – I felt every American should have taken the time to see ‘Inconvenient Truth’ & ‘Farenheit 9/11’, but this one may be the most important one of all. I wondered if I could write an unbiased review of this film without injecting my own beliefs & I think I could have done so except in his closing statements Bill Maher urged those of us who already agreed with his philosophy to speak up & start spreading the ‘logic’. Why? Because the deeply devoted pious ‘leaders’ that are depicted in ‘Religulous’ are going to lead us all to an early grave unless we start un-brainwashing the citizens of America and get them to open their eyes to the truth about religious cults & false idols and join the civilized countries with the fewest percentage of population that think the stories in the bible actually happened instead of being at the highest percentage with the Turkeys...
Obviously by making such a statement I stand to lose some readers – I certainly hope that doesn’t happen; as I did with a film such as ‘Atonement’ when I asked for someone who liked it to tell me ‘WHY’, I’d like anyone that watched this film & found it to be offensive to do the same – Please explain ‘why’ it offended you.
There is a scene early in ‘Religulous’ where Bill joins a trailer full of ‘Truckers For Jesus’ & starts questioning their beliefs – with a tinge of sarcasm, yes, but he was basically asking them why they loved Jesus and one of the truckers stood up, said he didn’t like what Bill was implying & walked out. Yes, Maher thought that what they believed in was ridiculous, but wouldn’t you welcome the chance to shoot someone like that down (Not literally, as I’m sure that trucker would have liked) but go toe to toe with this mocking blowhard & stand up for what you truly believed? I would, but I'm a mocking blowhard with strong opinions myself!
As always, I welcome your comments whether you agree with my views or not - & that is one thing a film like this creates – lively conversation among intelligent beings.