The God Who Wasn't There (2005)

This was a good start to something bigger, but alas this documentary is not up to par with its successor "Religulous." This was trying really hard to be introspective and new with what it was trying to say, and it did do an excellent job having been researched very well and containing interviews from a variety of people on the subjects of faith, intolerance, blood, and violence. Still, filmmaker Brian Flemming is just too attached to this subject to sometimes be subjective. He does bring up some interesting points, including showing the violence in "The Passion of the Christ" and how that film as horrifyingly driven to make people see the gore of the story of Jesus and not the peace of his existence. That is a film that I have not personally seen, but from the death scenes that Flemming presents, it's pretty clear that there's nothing but horrifying wretched death to be had in that film. He also looks at the origin story and disputes some simple facts that Christians look past, such as the similar and earlier stories of Perseus, Mithras, and Hercules, which is again, a valid point. What Flemming doesn't seem to understand, is that there are many more contemporary issues to be had, and a longer and more intense documentary would be better able to handle every issue responsibly. Flemming only speaks about the points he feels strongly about, and though they are important, they are only the start of an entire debate that has been culminating for so long now that no one knows who started it. On the other end of the spectrum Bill Maher is smarmy and self-assured in his decision of secularism. He preaches it loud and proud while Flemming reassures throughout the film that he is right, and no, this isn't hubris. The ending, where he denounces his faith in the place where he had been frightened into believing for most of his life was a great way to end everything on a thoughtful note. It was personal for him to add his experiences to the documentary, but with a subject as large as religion you really need a slick curmudgeon like Maher to even out all the subject matter for it to really resonate.