Religulous (2008)

Religulous

Directed by Larry Charles
Written by Bill Maher

In Religulous, Bill Maher goes around and interviews religious officials and normal people, asking them why they believe in whatever it is they believe in.  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to summarize the plot of a feature film in fewer words (except for maybe a Michael Moore flick).  As he says early on in the documentary, he’s not trying to tell religious people that they are wrong, he’s just trying to figure out why smart people – senators, scientists, elected officials – can not only believe, but actually rest all of their beliefs on something so ridiculous as modern religion. 

I’m going to add a disclaimer here – I consider myself an atheist.  There was a point in my life where I did firmly believe that God was there, and He was all I believed in.  But then I realized that the Holocaust, and Abu Ghraib, and Katherine Heigl exist, and so I stopped believing in nonsense.  So this movie only reaffirmed my beliefs.

Did Bill Maher do his job?  Did he get an answer to the question “Should I follow a religion?” In a word, yes.  Now, Maher didn’t have to work hard to drive his point home.  I distinctly remember a democratic senator who actually made up words.  He interviewed a formerly gay priest that hugged him at the end of the interview.  Apparently there is a Holy Land Experience theme park in Florida that reenacts the crucifixion of Jesus.  Actually, you probably won’t believe that, so here’s the link- http://www.holylandexperience.com/. Yea.  Just take a second to let that sink in.

Is religion ridiculous? Hell yes.  But now it’s necessary for our civilization to survive, which is very sad.  Bill Maher questions members of (almost) every religion. He confronts Jews, Muslims, Christians, Scientologists, and Catholics.  The only religion he passes on is Pastafarianism.  Yup.  Also real.

I liked this documentary a lot.  Bill Maher was his usual smart-ass self.  I especially loved Larry Charles’ decision to insert little clips and subtitles whenever somebody would say something absurd.  It had me laughing out loud (which, if you know me, isn’t unusual during movies), speechless, and during the last 5 minutes, in a trance.  Don’t miss this one.