***Thanks to Burton of BURTONIA for this interesting look at this obscure documentary.***
Should I see it?
Yes, especially for Christians.
Short Review: Elmer Gantry is a Hippy.
During the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, English-speaking German saboteurs infiltrated American lines wearing American uniforms. The effort failed miserably as quick-thinking American soldiers improvised short tests involving questions about baseball and other bits of Americana. In a similar way, Hollywood evinces some fascination with American popular religion, but is quite unable to get the details right. From Night of the Hunter to Leap of Faith, moviemakers have attempted to mine the rich intersection of greed and revivalist religion. To someone like me, who grew up in this milieu, they come across as ridiculous as a German soldier trying to act like an American G.I.
Hollywood's fictions make Marjoe that much more astonishing. In the early '70's, a former child evangelist, Marjoe Gortner, decides to quit the revival preaching circuit in a spectacular way. He hooks up with a documentary film crew and takes them along as he preaches in tents and churches in California, Texas, and Michigan. The power of the film comes in the harsh contrast between his passionate performances in front of the faithful and his cynicism, greed, and unbelief when the meetings are over.
The movie begins with a short explication of Marjoe's history. His parents invented his persona from birth, starting with his name, a conflation of Mary and Joseph. They made him into a preaching automaton, from the age of four. At no point does he ever seem to have believed any of it. By the time he was a teenager, he was bitter and alienated, and broke with his parents. He wound up a flower child, and only returned to preaching to solve his money "hang-ups".
What makes a thirty-five year old documentary fresh today is how good Gortner was at what he did. He had obviously been a keen observer of the words, mannerisms, and body language of the southern Pentecostal preachers. Even his hand-on-hip strut, which he freely admits copying from Mick Jagger, is completely natural. He perfectly employs every verbal tic in the repertoire. And his talent is chameleon-like. When he appears in front of black Pentecostals, Marjoe effortlessly slips into the sing-song delivery beloved of African American preachers. He fools them all, from the least to the greatest. In one devastating clip, we see him having lunch with another pastor, and Marjoe is tut-tutting over all the con-men preachers taking advantage of the gullible.
This is a pre-Ken Burns, pre-Michael Moore documentary; it lacks structure and an agenda – and the film is better for it. The only narration is from Marjoe himself. We observe, without distracting commentary, his antics in church, juxtaposed against him counting the take on a hotel room bed, and mocking the simple church-goers in front of his groovy, shaggy friends. If the film has a weakness it is that the filmmakers are clearly distracted by the Pentecostalists' bizarre behavior. There are long shots of people "slain in the spirit", writing on the floor, shaking uncontrollably, and speaking in tongues. These become tedious. Curiously, none of the people in the pews are interviewed. In the end, we want to see and hear more from Marjoe himself.
Marjoe muses throughout that all this Jesus stuff is not so bad, and is compatible with his new-found Aquarian make-love-not-war-give-peace-a-chance philosophy. It's just that all the threats of sin and hell he has to use to pump up the offerings are such a drag, man. If only Marjoe had been born just ten years later, he could have joined a new generation of Christian syncretists who successfully combined pop-psych sloganeering, new age success secrets, and a theologically gutted Christianity. Gortner could have been richer than he dreamed possible.
Related Reviews:
Documentaries
Street Fight (2005)
Manda Balla (Send a Bullet) (2007)
Other Critic's Reviews:
Spirituality & Practice
Film Junk
Labels: Christian culture, documentary, film, Marjoe Gortner, movie review
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 9:00 AM
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