Religulous (2008)
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 101 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Larry Charles
Stars: Bill Maher
IMDb score:
7,6 (60.893)
Releasedate: 1 October 2008
Religulous plot
"Heaven help us."
The documentary follows Bill Maher on a journey around the world, in which he searches for more information about God and religion. Maher's unorthodox way of interviewing and his personality guarantee a very unusual quest for spirituality.
Reviews & comments
Mr_Mephisto
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- 144 messages
- 1432 votes
For the set-up alone, the documentary gets a pass from me. Bill Maher knows how to approach some pious and/or superstitious people in a funny way. What I lacked was a reflection on what those people said or believed: why do they believe this? What arguments do they use? For example, instead of the sarcastic subtitles, one could identify the fallacies of the interviewees. Maher unfortunately limits himself to summarizing the nonsense. Some "interviews" were strong and even poignant (the senator), others superfluous (the Amsterdam junkie). That only "idiots" are covered (or the common man) may be true, but in the end they believe exactly the same as the "intellectuals" of the kind Dinesh D'Souza, Alister McGrath: miracles (the temporary override of the laws of nature) virgin birth, resurrection of Christ...
For real discussions between atheists and believers, I like to refer to YouTube: Matt Dillahunty and his program "The Atheist Experience".
Translated from Dutch · View original
Dievegge
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- 3237 messages
- 8333 votes
An anti-religious documentary with a lot of humor. While smiling, a fool tells the truth. Religious fundamentalism is indeed ridiculous and can lead to wars in the name of God.
It is quite one-sided and subjective. There are also moderately religious people who do not interpret the sacred texts so literally, but they received only limited attention.
Translated from Dutch · View original
sandokan-veld
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- 171 messages
- 984 votes
I'm a fan of Bill Maher, but if you want to see him formulate an intelligent opinion about religion, it's better to watch a few Youtube videos of his talk show. A lot more efficient and sympathetic than this incoherent sweet trip.
Maher travels halfway around the world, but if you just want to hear yourself, you don't really have to leave your TV studio. The scenes in historical places in Israel have no added value, because the next scene is again an interview with an ex-singer of Melvin and the Blue Notes (?) or someone who plays Jesus in an amusement park.
At the best moments, Maher can trick his victims into making absurd statements (the senator admitting you don't have to take an IQ test to enter the senate) or uncovering obscure absurdities (that Jewish shop with tech to circumvent the rules of the Sabbath).
However, instead of giving us the space to process that information ourselves, Maher always stands in the way himself, with a barrage of sarcastic sneers and creatively edited interviews. Anyone can say what they want a documentary to not have to be 'objective', but the total lack of journalistic ethics is of course just a problem here, just like in the documentaries by kindred spirit Michael Moore. Not because fundamentalists must be treated with respect per se, but because as a viewer I want the damn space to learn something and form my own opinion. Fuck off with your pamphleteer ramblings, Bill.
Now, after half an hour, I really started to hope that Maher was beaten hard for his ass. My sympathy for religious idiots had apparently grown from seeing this film. mmm.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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