Sunday 10 May 2009

Film 'Religulous' - what a hoot!

I was aware of the many criticisms of this film before finally catching up with it yesterday - "cheap pot-shots at easy targets"; "puerile subtitling of interviewees' unintentional mistakes"; "mischievous and misleading editing": "not as incisive as Michael Moore's best work" etc etc. - but, hell, I really enjoyed it - a lot! Even though Bill Maher isn't anywhere near as well-known in the U.K. as he is in the States and I only vaguely knew the name myself, I soon warmed to his sharply direct way of questioning and his evident prior research into the subject of religion, both generally and in particular. It was virtually always a case of "give the interviewee enough rope and he'll hang himself". ('She' in a few cases.) Particularly funny is the way in which 'believers' very soon become indignant that anyone could dare to challenge their faiths. I can identify with that, having been one myself for longer than I'm proud of. Of course its major audience will be religious sceptics like myself. That's a pity because it does deserve much wider play. The other members of the disappointingly small cinema audience seemed to find it every bit as hilarious as I did, though also, at turns, despairing at the fact that such high proportions of otherwise seemingly sensible people can hold as true such frankly batty ideas. All in all, a 'comfort' film for the likes of 'us' but also absolutely recommended.

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