Religulous (Charles '08)

OK, time for my first actual review. Last night I went and saw "Religulous" the new documentary (mockumentary?) from Larry Charles ("Borat"), starring Bill Maher. I was worried going in because I sort of assumed that it would be Maher running around insulting religious people for 90 minutes, which I probably would have enjoyed, but there probably would not have been any substance. The first thing that any review must say is that this film is absolutely hilarious. It may be the funniest film of the year so far. Throughout the entire thing, Charles adds clips from old movies, stand-up routines and pop culture moments (of course Tom Cruise and his silly beliefs show up in these sections), and these moments add a lot more to the comic aspects of the film, and they are what makes this the funniest documentary since "Borat." Maher does not go into his interviews with the intent of simply insulting religious people, because he lets them insult themselves. One of the first segments of the film centers on him visiting a trucker's chapel and trying to talk to the people there. One leaves because he feels insulted, but the rest want to talk to Bill because they are not bad people, and Maher knows that, they are just confused and lost and looking for something to comfort them. There are some interviews that come off as Maher trying to be mean, but those are the interviews that center around the true fanatics (a Puerto Rican minister who claims to be the second coming, a southern minister who believes that Jesus meant for him to be extremely rich and an orthodox Jewish rabbi who believes that the state of Israel shouldn't exist). Even the visitors and (most of) the workers at an Orlando holy land theme park seem to simply be looking for something to hold onto. Two of my favorite interviews were a Vatican astronomer who acknowledges that the bible is a group of false stories that are simple there to teach morals and two ex-Mormons who spend their time insulting their former faith. While the film skewers all of the major western religions (plus Scientology) relatively equally, the last half hour is much more serious and devoted to Islam and the violence of modern Muslim extremists, and this is where the film's true message comes out. Religion may not be a bad thing conceptually, but as soon as man takes over, it becomes violent. The very serious conclusion has been criticised by some for being so different from the rest of the film, but it is important and Maher is correct. Unless we can begin to look at the world rationally, we will die, and religion will probably have something to do with it.

Final rating (out of four stars): ****