Jesus Camp (2006)

Jesus Camp is a documentary about the "Kids On Fire School of Ministry," a charismatic Christian summer camp located just outside Devils Lake, North Dakota and run by Becky Fischer and her ministry, Kids in Ministry International. The film focuses on three children who attended the camp in the summer of 2005: Levi, who has ambitions of being a pastor, has already preached several sermons at his father's church, Rock of Ages Church in St. Robert, Missouri. He is homeschooled (as are many of the campers), and learns physical science from a book that attempts to reconcile the creationist account with scientific principles, occasionally by dismissing science altogether. He preaches a sermon at the camp in which he declares that his generation is key to Jesus's coming back. Rachael, who also attends Levi's church (her father is assistant pastor), is seen praying over a bowling ball early in the film, and frequently passes Christian tracts to people she meets. She doesn't think very highly of non-charismatic churches (or "dead churches," as she calls them), feeling they aren't "churches that God likes to go to." Tory is a member of the children's praise dance team at Christ Triumphant Church. She frequently dances to Christian heavy metal music, and feels uncomfortable about "dancing for the flesh." She also doesn't think very highly of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan or hilarity ensuing. The film cuts between footage of the camp and a children's prayer conference held just prior to the camp at Christ Triumphant Church, a large charismatic church in Lee's Summit, Missouri; a suburb of Kansas City.


Trivia: Jesus Camp was screened at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival against the wishes of the distribution company, Magnolia Pictures. Magnolia had pulled Jesus Camp from the festival earlier in the summer after it purchased rights to the film, in a decision apparently inspired by Moore's association with the film festival, with Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles saying "I don't want the perception out in the public that this is an agenda-laden film."

This nothing like I expected, well, okay it was mostly what I expected. What I didn't expect was the political side of it. Some of the adults in this used words like child soldier and warrior and pretty much said that the only way to fight Islam is with the children. Let me give you a quote from Becky Fischer, the leader of the summer camp and youth minister: "It's no wonder, with that kind of intense training and disciplining, that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam. I wanna see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I wanna see them as radically laying down their lives for the Gospel as they are over in Pakistan and Israel and Palestine and all those different places, you know, because we have... excuse me, but we have the truth!" This truly scared me. Never should the words child and soldier ever by said together. It's really hard to write a review of this because I am not the most religious person and I am definitely not political so I am going to go ahead and stop now. It is an interesting watch for sure.

And now for a preview of next Saturday. I am starting my new movie project. First it was Best Picture Oscar Winners, then The Top 250, Bond Revisted and The Alphabet Project. And thanks to Emily, now I am going to tackle Sundance. More specifically, the Grand Jury Prize Winners Starting with 1985. The reason I picked this is that I looked at the list and I had not seen any of them, which intrigued me. Now I have to tell you now that not all of them are available on DVD (3 or 4 are not) so I won't be able to see them all but I will see all that I can get. So tune in next week.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

Kirby Dick's expose about the American movie ratings board. A critical look at how films are rated by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The film discusses disparities the filmmaker sees in ratings and feedback: between Hollywood and independent films, between gay and straight sexual situations, and between violence and sexual content. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: According to the official MPAA website the movie ratings system is a voluntary system operated by the MPAA and the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO). The ratings are given by a board of parents who comprise the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA). CARA's Board members view each film and, after a group discussion, vote on its rating. The ratings are intended to provide parents with advance information so they can decide for themselves which films are appropriate for viewing by their own children. The Board uses the same criteria as any parent making a judgment: theme, language, violence, nudity, sex and drug use are among content areas considered in the decision-making process. On January 24, 2006, the MPAA admitted to making duplicates of a digital copy of the film that was provided to them for the purpose of obtaining an MPAA rating. According to the film's director, Kirby Dick, he sought assurances that no copies would be made or distributed for any other purpose.

This film was pretty eye opening. I'm sure most American take movie ratings for granted. But have you ever really thought of how a movie gets it's rating. The answer is probably "no." The board is made up of 10 to 13 people. Their identities are kept secret. They don't have to explain why they rate a movie a certain way. This documentary uses private detectives to find out the identities of the raters. It also uses examples of films that have been previously rated (something the MPAA will not allow in it's appeal process) The documentary focuses on the NC-17 rating and the consequences for a movie if it "gets slapped" with an NC-17 rating, a virtual death blow for a movie, very few have survived and NC-17 rating and most decide to edit and resubmit their movies. The problem is that the MPAA will not tell them what to cut to get the R, so the directors and editors could end up cutting things they may not need to do. It is a pretty fascinating look at the motion picture industry. If you like movies you need to see this film. And even though the name of the film is This Film Is Not Yet Rated, it was...NC-17, but when it added the after rating and appeals section to the movie it gave up it's rating to it technically is unrated, but it does contain very adult elements, or as the MPAA said "some graphic sexual content."

Die Geschichte Vom Weinenden Kamel (2003)

Springtime in the Gobi Desert, South Mongolia. A family of nomadic shepherds assists the births of their camel herd. Hilarity ensues when one of the camels has an excruciatingly difficult delivery but, with help from the family, out comes a rare white colt. Despite the efforts of the shepherds, the mother rejects the newborn, refusing it her milk and her motherly love. When any hope for the little one seems to have vanished, the nomads send their two young boys on a journey through the desert, to a a backwater town in search of a musician who is their only hope for saving the colt's life.

Trivia: The program that Ugna enjoys on TV is the Soviet animation classic "Nu, Pogodi!" (1969).

Despite the title, The Story Of The Weeping Camel, this isn't a story of a weeping camel. It is really a story of a nomadic family's life and struggles. This story seemed to be too tidy and self contained to be a documentary with a happy ending, but after a little research I found out the the story of the camel happened while they were filming the family and decided to use it as the basis of the film. The directors drew on the documentary style of Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North), who recreated events to comprehensively portray his subjects. They also recreated some of the events of the family, but supposedly only changed the fact the the little white camel was born in the middle of the season to say that it was the last camel of the season to be born. At times it was really slow, but that just emphasized the isolation of the family. The family was very dignified (even if one of the older boys was named "Dude") and the mother, Udgoo, was very pretty and sang with a haunting voice, accompanied by the violin. This is one of the movie I promised Amanda I would see because she was able to guess one of my alphabet movies. I picked O Brother Where Art Thou? as her official pick, but the name of this one just intrigued me enough that I am giving her a two-fer. Thanks Amanda, it was good.

The Alphabet Project: N is for...

Nanook Of The North (1922)

Documents one year in the life of Nanook (Nanook), an Eskimo (Inuit) and his family. Describes the trading, hunting, fishing and migrations of a group barely touched by industrial technology. Nanook of the North was widely shown and praised as the first full-length, anthropological documentary in cinematographic history. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Rated #6 in 2002 by International Documentary Assn. on its list of Top 20 Documentaries of all time. All of the scenes are staged. The woman who plays Nanook's wife was not his actual wife. Nanook died of starvation in 1922, months after the film was completed.

This was actually pretty amazing to watch. It might have been staged but I believe that is only because of having to set up the camera to capture it. One of the cool parts was when Nanook built an igloo, they said it took him around an hour, he even cut out a large section of clear ice to make a window. There was also a scene where Nanook and his family go to a trading post in a kayak. Nanook paddled, his son sat on the his wife (the smiling one) was inside in the front, his other wife was inside in the back with a child and a dog, it was like an Eskimo clown car.

Next Up: "O" This weeks clue: One of the Bard's best tragedies. Now for last week's guesses:

The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad - Incompetent cop Frank Drebbin has to foil an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.

A Nightmare on Elm Street - In the dreams of his victims, a spectral child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him.

Nowhere to Run - Escaped convict Sam Gillen single handedly takes on ruthless developers determined to evict Clydie - a widow with two young children.

The Naked Civil Servant - The life and times of Quentin Crisp, an outrageous and flamboyant homosexual, coming of age and growing into old age in conservative England.

No Sex Please: We're British - Porn store owner Pete orders some new stuff from his supplier Niko but Niko mixes up the address with the address of the local Barclays Bank. (Holy Cow, this is a real movie!?)

Naked Lunch - After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally murders his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in an Islamic port town in Africa.

The Night Listener - In the midst of his crumbling relationship, a radio show host begins speaking to his biggest fan, a young boy, via the telephone. But when questions about the boy's identity come up, the host's life is thrown into chaos.

North by Northwest - A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

North Country - A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States -- Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.

North to Alaska - Sam (John Wayne) and George (Stewart Granger) strike gold in Alaska. George sends Sam to Seattle to bring George's fiance back to Alaska.

Nothing to Lose - Nick Beam's life couldn't get any worse. He discovers he has been living a lie and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Ned Kelly - This film is based on "Our Sunshine" by Robert Drew, a novel based on the life of Australian bushranger and icon.

North and South - Two friends, one northern and one southern, struggle to maintain their friendship as events build towards the American Civil War.