Best Movies by Farr

Jesus Camp

Jesus Camp Poster
Jesus Camp Poster

Released

2006

Runtime

84

Jesus Camp

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What's it About

This eye-opening documentary trails Pentecostal children's minister Becky Fischer in her quest to, as she phrases it, indoctrinate the next generation of evangelical leaders. Glimpsed mainly at a "Kids on Fire" summer retreat in North Dakota for those under 15, these youths dutifully pray for theocracy and the vanquishing of Satan in cathartic sessions and hear tough-talking teach-ins about sin and salvation, abortion and politics, and laying down their lives for Jesus.

Why we love it

By focusing intently on a single woman's efforts to raise a theocratic revival in America, filmmakers Grady and Ewing have supplied us with a thumbnail sketch of this country's fastest growing, most influential social movement. Home-schooled by evangelical parents who teach them creationism instead of evolution, amiable preteens like wannabe preacher Levi and proselytizer Rachael are urged by Fischer to pray for George W. Bush and pro-life Supreme Court appointees, then given over to fervent prayer sessions in which they speak in tongues. The filmmakers opt to showcase radio talk-show host Mike Papantonio in lieu of critical voiceover, but they really needn't have: Fischer and her juvenile God's Army are alarming enough on their own.