Jesus Camp

Amazon.com

The feverish spectacle of a summer camp for evangelical Christian kids is the focus of Jesus Camp, a fascinating if sometimes alarming documentary. (Shortly after its release, the movie gained a new notoriety when Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who appears near the end of the film, resigned his post amid a male prostitute's allegations of drug use and sexual misconduct.) For most of the film, we follow a charismatic teacher, Becky Fischer, as she trains young soldiers in "God's Army" at a camp in North Dakota. Some of the kids emerge as likable and bright, and eager to continue their work as pint-sized preachers; elsewhere, the visions of children speaking in tongues and falling to the floor in ecstasy are more troubling. Even more arresting is the vision of a generation of children home-schooled to believe that the Bible is science, or Fischer's certainty that America's flawed system of democracy will someday be replaced by a theocracy. (In one scene, a cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush is presented to the children, who react by laying their hands on the figure as though in a religious procession.) Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady maintain neutrality about all this, maybe too much so (they throw in some interviews with radio host Mike Papantonio to provide a liberal-Christian viewpoint) and one would like to know more about the grown-ups presented here. Power broker Haggard is the creepiest person in the film, an insincere smooth talker whose advice to one of the young would-be campgoers comes across as entirely cynical. Time will tell whether the film's Christian soldiers will be marching onward. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Basically agitprop, but still interesting........2007-09-16

I got it figured out right up front. There's some really weird looking kids doing some really weird stuff in some Pentecostal church out there, and then there's this Air America talk show guy ranting about how wrong these people are, and then there are these little stats up in the corner of the screen. One example says that 75% of Evangelicals are home schooled. So, find a creepily weird Pentecostal bible camp and then generalize to all evangelicals. Oh yeah, be sure to play a soundtrack of ominously haunting music just so that those who can't put this together will come away with an "ewwwwwwww" feeling about the whole thing.

It becomes readily apparent that the purpose of this film is to show some disturbing images of children being indoctrinated into a certain relatively small subculture of American Christianity and then generalize it over all people who call themselves "born again" or "evangelical", and of course it's plain to see that these are just typical supporters of George W. Bush.

But even though my "propaganda alert" went off pretty quickly, I stayed to the end because this film did give me insights into a Christian subculture that I hadn't seen before, having grown up on the West coast. I just hope most of the people who see this don't end up believing that the people shown on this documentary represent the typical "born again" or "evangelical" Christian.

Oh yeah, I just might use that stuffed animal approach to illustrating how bad things, or "sin" can grow from something cute and little to something big and bad in someone's life.

Sad, but hardly the "scary" movie liberals make it out to be........2007-09-14

"Jesus Camp", a 2006 documentary about a Pentecostal summer camp for children, has had liberal America alternately cowering in fear and up in arms, due to its startling revelations that some Americans take Christianity rather seriously and would like to use the democratic process to change public policy. Rendered hysterical by the fear that a Christian Taliban of Bible-quoting Bushbots will soon be marching into their respective urban enclaves to burn down the alternative coffee houses and yoga schools, American lefties have shown that they are in serious need of a sense of proportion and a field trip to the America with which they are so obviously out of touch. I have my own problems with the church depicted in this film, but it's deranged to consider these fanatics any kind of threat to American democracy and it's hypocritical to condemn them for doing what is their Constitutional right in a free society.

"Jesus Camp" centers around a Pentecostal church led by a loud-mouthed, grossly obese female "pastor" named Becky Fischer who is shown indoctrinating a group of children at the church's summer camp in North Dakota. I don't use the word "indoctrinate" pejoratively; it's just a statement of fact. Every religion, parent, school, etc. indoctrinates children in the group's own tenets and ideologies. It is somewhat disturbing to see young children programmed in such fanaticism, but it's no less disturbing to see other young children spouting off liberal propaganda that their parents and schoolteachers quite obviously put into their heads. If New York and London critics don't like the fact that this church indoctrinates its young in Jesus and conservative politics, then they should try practicing a little more of the tolerance they're always preaching about.

What made me upset was the disgusting emotional manipulation this bully of a pastor and her lackeys put these kids through. Watching her psychologically destroy these children with tactics like her hellfire and damnation sermon and reduce them to blubbering, self-hating puddles of tears who can only be built back up through the ministry and approval of "Pastor" Becky is to witness a sickening form of child abuse. In that aspect, this church can indeed be regarded as cult-like. She doesn't just want to influence their religious thinking or get them to vote a certain way when they get older; she wants to control these children. Because of whatever psychological defect this woman has, she wants and needs to be at the very center of their lives, to be worshiped by them. Adults made a choice to abdicate their minds to such a disurbed woman. Their children have no choice and really shouldn't be put under the authority of people like Becky Fischer, for their own benefit and mental health. That was what I found objectionable about this this movie, not the fact that religious conservatives vote.

OH MAN... .......2007-09-10

After watching this movie I, in my humanity, want to go medieval on the fools subjecting these kids to this crap. I could go on and on about what is wrong with what is done to these kids...but let me instead respond to two comments that are made in the movie:

1. Kids are not to be USED for anything. Kids are to be loved, protected, educated and given freedom to make their own choices and take their own actions.

2. Following God is not about saving oneself from heartache. If you want safety and comfort, look elsewhere...

...which is EXACTLY what these people are doing. They have made an idolatry of their ideology and called it Christianity. I fear for them when the only one who is holy and just does return to judge. They have wracked up quite an account for themselves.

Also...what is it with these people and their penchant for speaking in terms of "this generation?" If I could have only had $5 for every time one of them uses the phrase, I could start my own camp.

Seriously though--I am a Christ-follower. I am also an American. This movie, as well done as it is, makes me sad, makes me sick. This is an important document of some of the ways people calling themselves by the name of the Savior have brought ridicule on it and on America. Shame on them.

Severe Misrepresentation of Charismatic Christians.......2007-09-07

I was deeply disturbed how the children were portrayed and misrepresented by the bias of those producing the film. True Christianity is God's love being extended to the world through His sacrifice of His Son, Jesus on the cross. The way these kids were misrepresented was just another drum beating the beat that Christians are bigoted. True Christians love people, but don't agree with lifestyles outside of the Bible. These type of feelings/values are NOT bigoted. Often, alternative lifestyles lead to destruction anyways, anyone can see that and that is the Holy Spirit's job to convict. Just take a look at the divorce rate and all of the shattered children as a result. Look at the devastation of drug abuse. The list goes on and on. These children love the Lord with all of their heart. Look at any devote follower of any "religion" and you will find that the children are raised to believe what their parents believe. This is not brainwashing. By the way, Christianity is not a religion, it is a lifestyle with a relationship with the Lord Jesus Himself. In fact, most Christians even in the US are the objects of mockery, bigotry and inequality. This film is just evidence of that again. It really grieves me, because I am the type of person who would be willing to talk to anyone, as the Lord leads, despite their beliefs. Most Christians are like this and we are just portrayed incorrectly in the media. It makes me really sad and mad that the producers did not depict these kids and Christians fairly.

Man, look at all the defensive fundies on Amazon!.......2007-09-01

Good, disturbing documentary. Limited in scope, but representative of a mass movement that's had a significant impact on our day to day lives - and wants to have more of an impact. Levi, the main kid who is followed in the film, looks to be a born grifter. He's a master of knowing how to say what people want, in the way they want to hear it. His sister, Rachael, is learning the game, but is less nuanced; her bit about martyrs is painful and funny as she makes up a scene that she claims to have heard about.

All of this rings true to me; I was a fundie in high school, in Missouri, 30+ years ago, and the dynamics remain very similar. There is still a heavy emphasis on Jesus as the genie in the bottle who will grant your wishes. God is the judgmental, abusive father who constantly needs to reiterate how much he loves you - but He'll send you to Hell in a heartbeat if you don't figure out what he wants. There is still an Us vs. Them mentality, not just toward unbelievers, but toward Christians who are not like one's own community. Like the Gnostics, there is a Children of Light vs. Children of Darkness foundation underlying it all, presupposing that unbelievers wish to persecute or lead believers astray, resulting in isolation to preserve one's faith (as when Levi says he would prefer to attend a school that teaches Intelligent Design rather than Evolution; it is assumed to be dangerous to one's faith to be exposed to different, conflicting ideas). I remember warnings from the pulpit against being "unequally yoked with" (marrying or dating) unbelievers. The only accepted reason to interact with unbelievers is for the purpose of evangelizing them or otherwise advancing the cause of "The Kingdom". And, of course, there is the intense but unexamined obsession with all things sexual, and the craven need for powerful authority figures.

I'd have liked to hear a child psychologist or two talk about the adult/child processes depicted in the film. Given the ages of the children here, and a knowledge of their various stages of development, a discussion of brainwashing techniques and indoctrination and the use of peer pressure and authority - driven pressures would be well-worth hearing.

Though the definitive documentary on the Religious Right in America is yet to be made, Jesus Camp is worth seeing. The scene where the youth minister declares that Harry Potter would be stoned if he lived in Old Testament times (Oh, for the good old days, when the stoning of fictional characters was encouraged!) is worth the price of admission.

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THE FLEET THAT CAME TO STAY!!
I wanted to see a good WWII Navy movie. This is it.
O.K. Movie, But Lots of Inaccuracies
GOOD WAR MOVIE
Carrier X Gets It Done

Wing and a Prayer
Starring: Don Ameche , Dana Andrews , William Eythe , Charles Bickford , and Cedric Hardwicke
Director: Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
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ASIN: B00005PJ8L
Release Date: 2002-05-21

Description

Customer Reviews:

THE FLEET THAT CAME TO STAY!!.......2007-04-07

I was twelve [12] years old when I saw this movie on a Saturday afternoon at a neighborhood theater...It had a powerful impact on my immature grasp of things then...it is a beautiful made movie during the anxious WW2 years about the US Navy and its pilots...just listen to the inspiring/heroic musical score by Hugo W. Friedhofer [kudos to him] and the easy; yet, Naval discipline as it flows so naturally under the direction of Henry Hathaway...forget the nit-pickers that drag on in here...the United States was losing the War in early 1942, I say again, losing the war all the way down to the tip of Australia...movies like the "Wing" made morale on the home/front soar as high as our Navy flyers could take it...by 1944 when this wonderful film was released, the USA was on the threshold of victory all the way to Tokyo...it was a long dirty way to Tokyo as The Captain alluded to...everytime I see this movie, I see my dearest friend recreated in the role played by Dana Andrews aloft in his Grumman Avenger [TBF]...he was decorated with the Navy Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross for heroic actions against the Japanese Imperial Fleet..movies of this genre will stand the test of time immemorial...the studio bosses knew how to make real movies in this era...I had my WAR in Korea and I [we] know what it takes to defeat America's enemies and this movie, "Wing and a Prayer" demostrates that ever so clearly as the carrier heads for the battle of Midway in 1942....I ask you, "Where were you in 1942"??..Semper Fidelis...SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF.

I wanted to see a good WWII Navy movie. This is it........2006-11-17

I also know history. This isn't. Yes, there was a Battle of Midway. After that... No matter. lots of action scenes, many of the scenes were actors performing in front of newsreel footage in what we now call a blue screen. Years later we're all so smart it almost seems quaint & we may chuckle. But it is excellent for it's time, which was wartime.
The U.S. military, paranoid as they are, covered up the battle & this movie for a long time. They publicized the Dolittle Tokyo raid which happened a few weeks before to boost the public morale. I would have thought our smashing victory at Midway might have had the same positive effect & a negative one if they Japanese found out.
The plot: The aircraft carrier USS X was traveling at light speed all over the Pacific so the enemy would think we had lots of carriers. It was traveling without it's escort ships which a carrier never does. It's too valuable. Then our pilots were to fly off the carrier but never engage enemy pilots. They are to run away, so the enemy thinks we are cowards. Of course, the enemy pilots would never think of following them back to their carrier which they could promptly sink since it has none of its escort ships. As history it is totally bogus but as a movie it is great. So I'm sorry if I'm critical. Dana Andrews, William Elthey & Henry Morgan etc. did good imitations of Navy pilots. They flew torpedo planes. In the movie they did a lot of damage & some of them survived. As we now know all the torpedo pilots went down & none of their torpedos hit a Japanese ship (some torpedoes were defective). This does not diminish their heroism or sacrifice. Don Ameche was exceptionally good as the stern, by the book, Cmdr. Bingo Harper. He is cast as the villian all the men love to hate. But he had the toughest job on the ship. I've seen worse than him in peacetime. One of the better war movies.

O.K. Movie, But Lots of Inaccuracies.......2006-09-06

Don Ameche (Cmndr. Bingo Harper) and Dana Andrews (Lt. Cmndr Edward Moulton) star in this movie that supposedly describes the Battle of Midway in 1942, but there are numerous inaccuracies that leave the viewer wondering what it is they are actually viewing.

The basic plot of the movie goes something like this. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American public was wondering where their Navy was. It appeared to them that the Navy had gone into hiding and was actually afraid to face the Japanese fleet. "Carrier X" was dispatched to lull the Japanese into thinking that the American fleet was scattered all over the Pacific ocean, when in reality, they were positioned off of Midway, ready to intercept the Japanese fleet which was intent on invading Hawaii.
Cmndr. Moulton and his squadron of TBF torpedo bomber pilots have just landed on the carrier, and Cmndr. Harper takes command of the squadron. Inflexible and strictly by-the-book, many men in the squadron soon take a disliking to Harper.

During their voyage, the men are told to refrain from engaging enemy pilots, being told to return to their carrier rather than shoot it out with the Japanese. Activities are limited to recon flights and target bombing practice. The men become more and more frustrated with the non-combat strategy. Finally, the Captain tells the crew that they are about to sail to Midway to join in battle against the Japanese fleet. Relieved, the crew can now focus on fighting the Japanese.

Despite this movie being produced in 1944, more care should have been taken in regards to historical correctness. As a reader of World War II history for over thirty years, I was frustrated to see the American people in the film asking "where is our navy" when in reality, the American fleet started striking back (albeit rather small hit and run raids) immediately after Pearl Harbor. Who can forget the heroic defense of Wake island only hours after the bombs had stopped falling over Pearl?

As for the battle of Midway aspect of the film, this was the most disappointing to me. During the actual battle, not a single American torpedo struck any ship in the Japanese fleet, but in the movie, the torpedo bombers were shown with their torpedoes striking with great regularity against the Japanese fleet. Plus, the idea of the "rogue" American carrier joining up with the rest of the American fleet in the nick of time is somewhat absurd.

I felt the acting was fairly good. Don Ameche does a good job as the cold-hearted Commander Harper, Dana Andrews is good as Commander Moulton, and William Eythe does a good job as Ensign Hallam "Oscar" Scott, a former academy award winning actor turned torpedo plane pilot.

I can only give this movie a lukewarm recommendation. If you like action and battle scenes, then the movie is ok, but for historical accuracy and correctness, then the movie is extremely poor. Don't watch this movie expecting to get an accurate account of the Battle of Midway; you won't.

GOOD WAR MOVIE.......2006-06-28

This film is a classic with a believable storyline. If you like fast paced WWII movies..get this one.

Carrier X Gets It Done.......2006-03-15

"Wing & A Prayer" is a very well done WWII period war movie. The story line is engrossing, the direction sure-handed, and the acting first rate. Like such jewels as "They Were Expendable", "Bataan", "Guadalcanal Diary", and others, this was a film as much about human beings and their hopes and fears
in the face of harrowing danger as it was about the "boom-boom-rat-tat-tat" of cinematic combat action ( and such emphasis on the human being rather than the bursting shrapnel was the reason why the television series "Combat" was so enormously popular in the 1960s). There is plenty of action, to be sure, though, in "Wing & A Prayer", much of it culled from actual
combat footage and the rest created by Fox's ace special effects
maestro Fred Sersen. Add up the combat footage, the FX wizardry, the direction, the cinematography, the script, and the acting performances, and you see in toto a fine piece of filmmaking.

People often carp about things that really don't matter in movies (continuity errors, etc.), and most all movies about WWII have them. Yes, you see Hellcats doubling for Wildcats at times, and sometimes Hellcats reconfiguring as Corsairs while in flight and then back to Hellcats again. And you generally see "rising sun" painted SBDs or AT-6 Texans impersonating
Japanese aircraft in films....or Sherman or Walker Bulldog tanks "pretending" to be German Tigers, Mark IV Panzers or Panthers. And sometimes M-3 or M-5 light tanks turn "Japanese"
on us. But so what? Filmmakers, at certain points in time, had to "make do" with what they had available to them at time of production (in "To Hell And Back"...movie version...Audie Murphy earns his Medal of Honor atop a TANK...NOT a tank
DESTROYER as in historical reality...again, so what?).

I, for one, just let these little quibbles scoot by and don't worry about them. In the overall context of the stories being told, they don't amount to a thing.

Give "Wing & A Prayer" a break. Its a good flick and the little "bloopers" just don't matter here.

Lastly, to the reviewer who asked the question about the USS Ticonderoga and SBD footage shot aboard that vessel....part of a movie starring Errol Flynn...no, "Wing & A Prayer" isn't it.
Flynn is nowhere to be found in "Wing". The movie you want to see is Warner Bros. 1941 vehicle "Dive Bomber", starring Flynn and Ralph Bellamy. "Dive Bomber" (about flight surgeons working to prevent dive bomber pilots from passing out from G-force
blood drainage from the brain in steep sustained dives)is the movie that a crackpot named Charles Higham cited as an example of Errol Flynn's "nazi spy activities" in a ludicrous book he wrote in the late 1970s. Long since discounted and now justly ridiculed, this author tried to claim that Flynn used his "influence" with Warner Bros. to have "Dive Bomber" filmed in, around, and over Pearl Harbor, so that views of the harbor could be sent to Japan to help prepare for the December 7th attack. This was a preposterous claim as the Japanese spy network in Honolulu had already supplied all the needed intel months before and models and mock-ups were already in use in Japan. Further preposterousness lay in the fact that no one...not even a "star"...could influence filming locations under Hollywood's old studio system. And, lastly, given the
production facts about "Dive Bomber", one has to wonder how a movie shot entirely on location in SAN DIEGO could possibly offer up any "useful intelligence" on PEARL HARBOR!!

At any rate, if one is looking for "family SBD" footage from an Errol Flynn movie, "Dive Bomber" is what you are looking for.

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A Wing and a Prayer
Starring: Claudia Christian , Jeff Yagher , Jessica Tuck , Christopher Cousins , and Leon Russom
Director: Paul Wendkos
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
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ASIN: B0000ADXFF
Release Date: 2003-01-07

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A Wing and a Prayer
Starring: T.D. Jakes & The Potter's House Mass Choir
Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
ProductGroup: DVD
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WOW
FANTABULASTIC!!!!!

A Wing and a Prayer
Starring: T.D. Jakes & The Potter's House Mass Choir
Manufacturer: Chordant
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000093NOA
Release Date: 2003-12-02

Customer Reviews:

WOW.......2006-05-03

Superb gospel music accompanied by a choir that will resonate long after the TV is turned off. For anyone who enjoys music this will be powerful ear candy.

FANTABULASTIC!!!!!.......2004-08-27

This must be the absolute best DVD the Bishop and the Potter's House Mass Choir has produced thus far. Anyone in love with gospel music should purchase and add this DVD to their collection. Buy it!

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A Wing and a Prayer
Starring: Don Ameche , Dana Andrews , William Eythe , Charles Bickford , and Cedric Hardwicke
Director: Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00096S4CG
Release Date: 2002-05-21

Description

Don Ameche, Dana Andrews, William Eythe and Richard Jaeckel star in this acclaimed film about newly-trained pilots assigned to an aircraft carrier immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Anticipating the battle of Midway, which will determine the future of the war in the Pacific, U.S. naval leaders attempt to lull the Japanese into a false sense of security by making it look like the American military is afraid to engage the enemy. Eager to fight, the young airmen aboard the carrier are not only confused and angered by their orders, but must also cope with a by-the-book officer (Ameche) who puts discipline and regulations above all else.

The Second World War, Vol. 20: On a Wing and a Prayer/The Guinea Pig Club

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The Second World War, Vol. 20: On a Wing and a Prayer/The Guinea Pig Club
Starring: Second World War
Manufacturer: Classic Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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The Second World War, Vol. 11: The War In the Desert/The War In the Jungle

ASIN: B0006SSSPK
Release Date: 2005-04-12

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Wing and a Prayer [Region 2]
Starring: Don Ameche , Dana Andrews , William Eythe , Charles Bickford , and Cedric Hardwicke
Director: Henry Hathaway
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001XLXK2

High Sierra: Search and Rescue/A Wing and a Prayer/St. Helens/Blind Justice

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High Sierra: Search and Rescue/A Wing and a Prayer/St. Helens/Blind Justice
Starring: Robert Conrad , and Art Carney
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
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ASIN: B000A59PYC
Release Date: 2005-08-23

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A Wing and a Prayer
Director: Daniel O'Connor
Manufacturer: Laughing Man Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000KOJP5M

Product Description

Barry sits down at a local diner to enjoy a dozen wings. Or so he thinks. As he finishes the last one, he eyes the plate and counts...eleven wings. He calls the waitress over. What happens next has the potential to change his life.

DVD:

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