Customer Reviews

Friends of God: A Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi

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As a pastor ministering in the "Christ-haunted" South, I thought that "Friends of God" gives an accurate image of a religion that justifies American culture and a so-called religious ideology while at the same time, ignores the plight of the poor and the wars that we have created while creating an atmosphere of fear, ignorance and intolerance. For instance, I don't believe that Jesus would ask us to be "pro-life" while supporting capital punishment and an illegal war at the same time. I don't believe that Jesus would have us gather to worship in pristine "mega-churches" while our urban areas decay and millions of American children continue to be left behind by both the Democrats and the Republicans. Jesus calls us not merely to worship him, but more importantly, to follow him--not to justify ourselves and our own culture and lifestyle--but to advance the Kingdom of God. By that, he ministered to the poor, downtrodden, and to those on the outside of the mainstream who might be different than us. (Sorry about the short sermon! It's a great and thought provoking documentary!)

I've read several reviews that throw around terms like "liberal" and "biased". I can only blame it on two things; offence and ignorance. To deny that people like this exist is absurd.

There are extremists in every group which are unfortunately louder then those who are sane - thus generating the bad reputation that a lot of these groups end up with. This documentary showcases such crazy extremists.

I will never understand why politics started mixing so heavily with religion, as religion is NOT the birthplace of morality. But that is another matter.

This documentary is entertaining moreso then it is informative. I don't see an apparent bias, as Pelosi barely speaks with the exception of asking questions, which tend to be general and not particularly pointed or offensive (unlike Micheal Moore) as evident by the relaxed nature the interviewees exhibit while answering the questions. Yes, Pelosi may be a liberal, but that does not in and of itself mean that she is biased or hates Christians or any other absurd things said in the reviews on this website.

See it for yourself and make your own decision. Just understand that this documentary is about fundamental Evangelicals and is NOT about Christianity in general, as stated in the film's description.

Unlike most liberal documentaries that mock Christianity, Pelosi really tries to get to know Christians in her roadtrip across America. This is a decent portrayal of red state America, including one of the last interviews with the legendary Jerry Falwell before his death.

This film plays like a college student's project. I really liked "Jesus Camp" and I also really like some of Alexandra's previous work so I thought this would be a good bet. Unfortunately not. Very poorly edited, poorly structured, unfocused, boring, and shallow. Did not offer any additional insights (negative or positive) on the ostensible subject(s). If you are interested in this subject then rent/buy "Jesus Camp" and if you are interested in a solid doc from Ms. Pelosi rent/buy "Journey's With George."

Andrea Pelosi seeks to shed light on the political strength of the modern-day Evangelical movement in the U.S. and its implications on the future of America's course.
Cruising through the heart of America, Pelosi interviews many prominent and not so prominent hard-core fundamentalist individuals, pastors, and organizations in order to demonstrate their ever-growing involvement in American Politics.

The issue that struck me the most was the efforts of organizations such as Answers in Genesis to imbue children with the pseudo-scientific concepts such as the coexistence of dinosaurs and man. Even after autonomous refutation by the scientific community, this hard-core fundamentalist camp still seeks to turn young minds to the cause of "Creationism." Personally, I believe that this deprives children of one of the most cherished gifts: the ability to think for one's self. In more ways than one, this is child abuse of the worst kind.

As a gay man, I must give credit to Pelosi for including a prominent gay clergyman in the documentary. I always have theorized that fundamentalist-evangelicals have felt the necessity to continue to demonize the GLBT community for the fear of losing their jobs. The day the GLBT community merges with the greater American community, is the day the fundamentalist-evangelical movement runs out of steam. The very idea that homosexuals have the same rights as other citizens!!!

In short, "Friends of God" is a very important documentary for the personal collections of the political warey. Liberals and political conservatives alike will enjoy this dvd. Of course, one must always consider the biases of the creator. Pelosi is a self-described atheist and the question of her own intentions for creating this documentary is ever present. Does she seek to simply make the evangelical-fundamentalist movement look bad or does she feel an indepth sense of purpose to perform her patriotic duty? All the same, I thoroughly enjoyed the DVD and hope others will enjoy it as well.

This documentary was great, because is allowed the Evangelical's to speak for themselves. The things they say are still crazy, but at least they can't complain about it being out of context or misrepresented. If' this movie has an agenda, it didn't show it. This is the way Evangelicals want to be represented, and it's nice to have a documentary that let's the information speak for itself.

"Friends of God" is a road trip through the America of fundamentalist Christians. There are some great, enlightening scenes in this documentary, but the whole seems to be less than the sum of its parts.

Two scenes from Friends of God stood out for me. There was one in which a woman described how much better her life had become since she dropped out of college, adopted fundamentalism, and became the mother of eleven children. She says one thing, but she looks as though she is harried and miserable. The second scene concerned the door-to-door "retail politics" that Jerry Falwell and his followers use in their attempts to elect candidates who are friendly to their agenda. It gives the viewer a concrete idea of what is meant by the often-used term "Christian Right."

The film also has a number of scenes in which the Rev. Ted Haggard decries homosexuality; these scenes are mildly interesting, but the story of Haggard's hypocrisy had been told many, many times.

Unfortunately, director Alexandra Pelosi fails to tell a coherent story. So many documentary filmmakers seem to think that meandering around and shooting a bunch of scenes makes a movie. Doesn't anyone teach storytelling in film school?

This film is not a bad way to spend your time, but I have seen much more interesting films on the role of Christianity in the United States. I thought that "Jesus Camp" and "Fall from Grace" (about The Reverend Fred Phelps) were much better than "Friends of God."

Unlike the usual liberal documentaries, this is a deep and honest look at a huge portion of our population. This is not drive-by journalism, the filmmaker had a great repoire with Jerry Falwell, Joel Osteen and Ted Haggard. (In fact, the filmmaker got to know disgraced former pastor Ted Haggard so well that he let her make the follow-up movie with him about his fall). It is important to appreciate films that attempt to understand their subjects.

So-called Christians like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are the sort of preachers that rulers of the U.S. empire like. They take a radical faith that preaches peace and care for the poor, and turn it into a club to demonize gays, liberals and people of other faiths and nations. The way right-wing evangelicals cultivate division and a superiority complex is ideal for the prerogatives of power and privilege in our militarized state Why We Fight.
Pat Robertson has supported some of the most violent dictators in the world, people like Charles Taylor in Liberia and Rios Montt in Guatemala. Robertson used his media empire to support "brother Montt", a military dictator and televangelist, who led Guatemala during its "scorched earth" campaign against the Mayan people When the Mountains Tremble. Robertson also assisted the Contra forces in Nicaragua as they terrorized peasants and blew up health clinics.
As the global economy designed by and for the super-rich continues to harm the majority of the world's people, it is necessary for the establishment to have a religious movement to scapegoat some, while pacifying others The Fourth World War. Osteen and others are there to ensure people that, with enough belief, they will prosper. It's a theology that deflects attention away from corporatism and politicians who are gutting social spending. Meanwhile, Falwell and Haggard will cultivate resentment toward various minorities (until, that is, they are exposed as having purchased some tender moments with a male prostitute), and will posture about their "pro-life" positions while people die from U.S. aggression, a lack of health care, workplace sickness and accidents, and a poisoned environment A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future.
Instead of concerning themselves with the message of the Christ to overthrow unjust rulers and build a kingdom of peace, they rally their flocks to vote for right-wingers, thus ensuring more war and entitlements for our modern-day Roman rulers who wear suits instead of togas.

Pelosi's film does a very good job of documenting the group-think that has seduced millions in the U.S. and in other parts of the world where communities and economies have fallen apart. She could do another film on the influence of "Focus on the Family," which is conveniently located across from the US Air Force academy (the world's leading state terror training camp) and has a radio program aired on a couple thousand stations around the world.
According to Air Force veteran and staunch Republican Michael Weinstein, evangelicals have bullied their way into the hearts and minds of many cadets With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military.

One shortcoming of the film is that one in four evangelicals are pursuing the actual values of Christ. Books like Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder and A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity and the magazine Sojourners reveal that there are many who take the faith seriously; rather than invoking Christ's name for war or a hot-rod club. So, maybe a future documentary on evangelicals can interview those people who are working for peace, tolerance, environmental stewardship and economic justice. Evangelicals aren't all reactionaries; but with figures like Pat Robertson and John Hagee dominating the airwaves, many good-hearted but misinformed people will be seduced by a pernicious political agenda posing as "Christianity."

Regarding this movement's effort to criminalize abortion, I'd recommend the book by former Planned Parenthood president, Gloria Feldt The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back.
Regarding the efforts to dismiss evolution, I'd recommend the DVD Judgment Day - Intelligent Design on Trial.

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike Christ." - Gandhi

An interesting doc and worth a look, but it doesn't really deliver deliver the insights, or quirky charm that make "Journeys with George" so memorable. Moreover, Ms. Pelosi really fails to keep her bias in check this time around; one very unfortunate example is a bit of Michael Moore-style deceptive editing. A gay man silently weeps in church as the surrounding congregation sings "God Bless America." Very poignant, until you look closely and see that the singers are singing something else -- the vocals are dubbed. Watch with a grain of salt.