| Portion of title |
Evangelical movement in America |
| Variant title |
Original broadcast title: Friends of God: a roadtrip with Alexandra Pelosi |
| Abstract |
Looks at the issues behind the formidable force in American culture and politics, the evangelical movement. Seeking to better understand the 60-80 million Christian evangelicals in the U.S., Alexandra Pelosi sets out on a road trip. On the way she finds the movement is an extremely diverse group: congregation members, creationist educators, religious activists, Liberty University students, a Christian comic, Bible theme park-goers, and professional wrestlers with a powerful gospel message. Includes interviews with Jerry Falwell, leader of the Moral Majority Coalition; Joel Osteen, the most-watched TV minister in America; Ron Luce, founder of the immensely popular Battle Cry concert ministry, Bible-thumping wrestlers, Christian comedians, drive-through prayer and plenty of everyday born-again Christians. Ted Haggard, who was at the time of filming the head of the National Association of Evangelicals and a prominent spokesman for born-again Christians, acts as tour guide with Pelosi. The film was completed a few days before Haggard was forced to step down after it was revealed that he had paid a gay prostitute and used methamphetamines. The scandal and controversy is referred to only in titles at the beginning and end of the film, but with such a prominent participant of the documentary tarnished, the film shifts dramatically from the mood and message Pelosi might have set out to make. --Various sources. |
| General note | Title from container. |
| Date/time/place of a event note | Originally broadcast on HBO Box Office television in Jan., 2007 with the subtitle: A Roadtrip with Alexandra Pelosi. |
| Technical details | DVD. |
| Biographical note | It should also be noted that the filmmaker's mother is the new U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi - a figure vilified by conservative Christians during the U.S. 2006 mid-term elections as leader of the supposed ultra-liberal San Francisco gay rights agenda. Though the tension between ultra-liberals and ultra-conservatives clearly motivated the production of this film, Friends of God is not a missile aimed at either camp. Pelosi has proven skilled at negotiating the boundaries of the culture war. Her previous documentary, Journeys with George was a genial look behind the scenes on the campaign trail with George W. Bush. Friends of God succeeds at getting past the tension one might expect in a film that has the daughter of the most prominent pro-choice, pro-gay rights politician in America examining an anti-choice, anti-gay rights culture. By using the quirkiness of roadside America as her visual language, Pelosi finds a commonality that is absent from much of the discussion of born-again Christians. Yes, Evangelicals teach their children that dinosaurs lived and died in biblical times. But they also write witty billboards and build themed miniature golf courses just like the rest of us. Seperate and Unequal? The questions implicit in Friends of God are about the breakdown of common beliefs and culture. As the world of ideas becomes more vast and segmented, ideologies that once held people together become fragile and divisive. Reconciling the new with the old is the challenge Evangelicals face. Pelosi's roadtrip shows that they have done well in constructing mega-churches, TV networks, and giant roadside crosses. That infrastructure was widely credited with giving George W. Bush his two presidential victories. Consequently the government now sells books declaring the Grand Canyon to be only a few thousand years old. Friends of God makes a noble effort at finding common ground amid the culture wars, but at some point these more egregious affronts to reason will need to be reconciled as well. http://documentaries.about.com/od/reviews/fr/friends_of_god.htm |
| Genre/form | Documentary films. |
| ISBN | 9781421365732 (DVD) |
| ISBN | 1421365731 (DVD) |
| ISBN | 9781421365725 (VHS) |
| ISBN | 1421365723 (VHS) |
| Standard identifier# |
KEH37177 |
