{"id":13221,"date":"2016-05-06T10:22:44","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T18:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=13221"},"modified":"2023-09-06T15:42:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T22:42:07","slug":"losing-your-religion-nine-movies-about-crises-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/losing-your-religion-nine-movies-about-crises-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Losing Your Religion: Nine Movies about Crises of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abigail Disney\u2019s documentary <\/span>The Armor of Light<\/i><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0takes an unusual but illuminating approach to the gun control debate. In the film, Reverend Rob Schenck \u2014 an evangelical Christian who gained some cachet on the right decades ago via his leadership of anti-abortion Operation Rescue rallies \u2014 talks to Disney about how he\u2019s lost support from his old friends by suggesting that \u201cpro-life\u201d should also mean anti-gun. For Schenck, it\u2019s obvious that anyone who believes human life is sacred would also be against the weapons that shoot others dead. But after decades of close ties between the NRA, the gun manufacturers, and the Christian right, Schenck finds his fellow evangelicals parroting the idea that firearms \u201cprotect the innocent.\u201d Even harder\u00a0for Schenck, the goalposts keep moving for gun enthusiasts, from mere \u201cself-defense\u201d to active vigilantism.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Armor of Light<\/span><\/i> follows Schenk around the country, watching him try to persuade people who share his faith, but who have very different interpretations of what that faith demands. And while the film is as much about\u00a0America\u2019s gun obsession, it joins the long list of movies that weigh what it means to believe. The tenets of religious faith can give life a deeper meaning; or they can lock adherents into patterns of behavior that they may find unsatisfying and regrettable. The nine films below explore characters and situations that fall all along that range.<\/span><\/p>\n

Non-Fiction Faith<\/b><\/p>\n

Trembling Before G-d<\/i><\/b><\/a> (2001):<\/b> In recent years, a handful of outstanding documentaries have pushed headlong into some uncomfortable but necessary questions about religion, via interviews with unlikely true-believers, grappling with the contradictions of their creed. Sandi Simcha Dubowski’s <\/span>Trembling Before G-d<\/span><\/i>, for example, considers what becomes of homosexuals who aspire to be observant Orthodox Jews. The film travels around the world, taking to gays and lesbians \u2014 often interviewed in silhouette \u2014 who explain why they cling to a denomination that condemns their lifestyle. Dubowski also uses silhouettes to show Jewish family rituals, as a way of illustrating what would be lost if his subjects just quit Judaism altogether. What emerges is a study of two historically persecuted communities \u2014 gays and Jews \u2014 and of the people who maintain a shaky footing in two otherwise inviting, generous worlds. Their big question: Does being a practicing sinner trump all spiritual pursuits?<\/span><\/p>\n

Prophet\u2019s Prey<\/i><\/b><\/a> (2015):<\/b> Amy Berg\u2019s utterly absorbing true-crime documentary tells the story of Warren Jeffs, the infamous, now-jailed leader of a polygamist sect. Berg digs into the history of Jeffs\u2019 cult, and uses the work of investigators and the testimony of ex-members to provide a rare look inside the gated suburban compounds, where church leaders preached against all earthly pleasures while preparing young girls to be child brides. This movie is partly about the particulars of how Jeffs was able to live like an old world king (mainly thanks to shrewd real estate deals that bordered on the crooked), but it\u2019s also about how one man could be so persuasive with his doomsday prophecies, convincing hundreds of people to buy into his bizarre way of life. <\/span>Prophet\u2019s Prey<\/span><\/i> is an at-times disturbing portrait of an America so huge, so splintered, and so forgiving of fundamentalism that it allows a weirdo sex criminal to hide and thrive for decades.<\/span><\/p>\n