musings on the documentary (compiled while watching):
- the woman who is leading the camp is a pentecostal and encourages them to speak in tongues. speaking in tongues kind of creeps me out, although i'm not actually certain about the biblical basis (or non) of such a thing. either way, it's creepy.
- she also uses a baby/grown tiger as a metaphor for sin. looking in the kids' eyes, i can see they are totally scared of sin. we shouldn't fear sin. the lord does not send a spirit of fear! we should be disgusted by it, cautious of it, but not fearful of it. mostly, we should be set free from it.
- i can't say anything about the harry potter part.
- the most disturbing part so far was the part where she declared, after comparing her camp to the ones used to train children to suicide bomb when they are teenagers: "i want these children to go forth with as much passion as the children of palestine, pakistan, and the middle east."
really i should have seen it coming but the whole thing culminates in a pro-life/right wing political message. i'm sort of disappointed in myself for not looking for it, but i thought the documentary AND the camp would not be so blatantly agenda-pushing.
mostly i notice nothing mentioned about loving others.
in the last ten minutes, the leader of the camp calls in to a radio show led by a christian who doesn't agree with the political message she's pushing. he declares, rightly so, when she defends the indoctrination of children, "God gave us a brain. God gave us the right to choose. Learning is a part of that choice."
have you seen this movie? what did you think? i'm just curious now...
2 comments:
this movie totally freaked me out. i think because i could see alot of my past church and self in it at some points. i do believe in tongues and speak in tongues, but i also believe people fake it alot of the time or abuse them, as i think is the case in this movie. either way, that lady is/was jacked up and now so are those kids.
i didn't think the movie itself was right wing agenda based or had much of an agenda. at least that's what i got from it. i thought it was true to the documentary form in just showing a certain group of people's lifestyle and choices. apparently the filmmakers were from another country and completely foreign to these religious practices. perhaps after being engulfed in all this, in the editing process, i could see them wanting to show how crazy this all was, but that's about it.
eh.
i think the real reason i was freaked out is that i realized people can have similar religious beliefs as you, and yet their methodology and practice of them can be scarily different and downright wrong.
Post a Comment