Watching “”Jesus Camp,”” the controversial new documentary about an evangelical summer camp for kids, I was forced to separate my moral standpoint as a Christian from my duty as a critic. Those raised like the “”Kids on Fire”” camp participants could watch the film in its entirety and find nothing to convince them that their behavior is anything but normal. And that is the inherent problem with this documentary: It fails to make any sort of statement on either side, let alone engage in any real dialogue. There is some sort of pro/con debate, but it comes far too late, and offers only generalized arguments.
Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow evangelical minister Becky Fischer as she puts on the multi-week “”Kids on Fire”” summer camp in the Midwest, where she seeks to train kids as young as six to form a self-described “”God’s Army.”” She wants, in her own words, to have the kids “”as on fire for God as the kids over in Palestine.”” The camp and its various participants take on such political storms as abortion, globing warming (“”The temperature has only rose .06 degrees,”” said one of the kids, encouraged by a nearby parent. “”That’s not a lot.””) and the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel Alito.
“”Jesus Camp”” attempts an exploration of whether Fischer is exploiting and indoctrinating campers. Fischer advocates speaking in tongues and denounces Harry Potter (“”If Harry Potter lived in the time of the Bible, he would have been burned!”” she said), emphasizing an “”us versus them”” mentality among the kids. It’s distressing to see young children honoring a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush as a savior of America and being told that prayerless education is sinful. Vulnerable youth being subjected to skewed guilt trips and closed-minded political lectures outside their sphere of comprehension amplifies the concerning presence of such radical theology in our culture.
The film’s major production fault is the half-assed lack of depth with which the camp is depicted: the ominous music, tracking shots of a desolate Midwest as it becomes winter (devoid of all life) and the brief inclusions of Air America commentator Mike Papantonio, who is really the only voice of dissent throughout the film, are only lazy allusions to criticism. Papantonio seems present only as a required voice of dissent, and camp director Fischer is never really pushed to answer any tough questions, as if the filmmakers are too scared to take on such a large religious-political juggernaut. If you’re going to commit to documenting such a controversial and divisive topic, you’d better have strong arguments and concrete ideas to show for each side. The only case the film makes is that the religious right is a significant part of modern America. But we knew that already, didn’t we?
Your stance on the religious right going into “”Jesus Camp”” will be the same coming out, be you Christian (whichever denomination) or any other creed. The lack of support for either angle transforms what could have been a comprehensive exposé of one of America’s most shocking, little-seen lifestyles into a bland piece of restrained journalism.
Note: While depicted as an evangelical summer camp, those in charge of “”Kids on Fire”” are Pentecostal, a branch within the evangelical movement. The film is not demonstrative of all “”mainstream”” evangelism, rather some of it.
