I am not a very religious guy. I also don't know Bill Maher. I watched this documentary for kicks, since I was expecting it to be a comedy (closer to a mockumentary than a proper docu). What I got is a surprisingly thought-provoking documentary that highlights the role religion plays in our society.
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Religulous (2008) - Bill Maher
The gist of the movie is Bill Maher's quest on finding the answer to a burning question: Why do rational adults believe in things that may or may not be real? We then follow Bill around religious hotspots of the world as he interviews people on their views.
The movie starts out with a great shot of Megiddo, the supposed site where the world will end according to Revelations. The movie then cuts to show the intro and from there, we are shown the first of a series of interviews with a lot of people, including churchgoers, a priest from the Vatican, a rabbi, a guy who plays Jesus, a guy who thinks he IS Jesus and many others. With each of the interviews, he asks them fundamentally the same question. The surprising thing is what most of them answer: "God works in mysterious ways", which doesn't lead to anything.
That said, Bill Maher's interviewing style got on my nerves for the first few minutes of the movie. He comes across as a very condescending asshat (really in-yo face), and one of the people during the early minutes of the movie (one guy in the Truckers' Chapel) actually walked out on him. The movie cuts back and forth between interviews and some random facts, some actually interesting, while others are there simply to point out the irony in the interviewee's answer. I liked the way some of the interviews played out. Most especially during that time when they were in the Mosque and suddenly white text appeared on-screen telling the religions of Maher and his crew, with the text turning into "INFIDELS".
While there are some genuine laughs to be had, the movie ends with a very serious note. Maher goes on a lengthy monologue about how blind faith will destroy us all eventually, and why religion is such a dangerous thing. It's a good documentary, definitely now one of my favorites. It's worth seeing at least once, if just for the laughs.
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Religulous (2008) - Bill Maher
The gist of the movie is Bill Maher's quest on finding the answer to a burning question: Why do rational adults believe in things that may or may not be real? We then follow Bill around religious hotspots of the world as he interviews people on their views.
The movie starts out with a great shot of Megiddo, the supposed site where the world will end according to Revelations. The movie then cuts to show the intro and from there, we are shown the first of a series of interviews with a lot of people, including churchgoers, a priest from the Vatican, a rabbi, a guy who plays Jesus, a guy who thinks he IS Jesus and many others. With each of the interviews, he asks them fundamentally the same question. The surprising thing is what most of them answer: "God works in mysterious ways", which doesn't lead to anything.
That said, Bill Maher's interviewing style got on my nerves for the first few minutes of the movie. He comes across as a very condescending asshat (really in-yo face), and one of the people during the early minutes of the movie (one guy in the Truckers' Chapel) actually walked out on him. The movie cuts back and forth between interviews and some random facts, some actually interesting, while others are there simply to point out the irony in the interviewee's answer. I liked the way some of the interviews played out. Most especially during that time when they were in the Mosque and suddenly white text appeared on-screen telling the religions of Maher and his crew, with the text turning into "INFIDELS".
While there are some genuine laughs to be had, the movie ends with a very serious note. Maher goes on a lengthy monologue about how blind faith will destroy us all eventually, and why religion is such a dangerous thing. It's a good documentary, definitely now one of my favorites. It's worth seeing at least once, if just for the laughs.