Film: American Jesus
Directed by: Aram Garriga
Genre: Documentary

America was founded on the phrase ‘In God We Trust,’ but how one defines that God and their relationship to him/her/it was left open to interpretation. Freedom of religion is a cornerstone of who we are as a nation, and over the centuries since our founding the Christian faith has been divided into hundreds, if not thousands of sects and variations. Many filmmakers have taken the time to highlight some of the more peculiar aspects of our nation’s relationship with religion, but few – if any – have taken the time to weave as complete and diverse a picture of what it means to have faith in America as Aram Garriga’s American Jesus.

Starting in Texas, the first half of American Jesus is spent crisscrossing the country in an attempt to not only capture the many variations ofChristianity to be found in America, but also how the marketing related to those various views on faith has impacted society. Most of those interviewed are religious leaders, ranging from cowboy pastors to tattoo’d ex-cons, but every so often someone with a more atheist/agnostic view comes along to counter various points. There are themes of redemption and forgiveness, but there is also an ever-present since of capitalism also woven throughout. It’s not glared upon at any time, but it’s hard to not notice the more successful various people become as a result of their ministries the more elaborate their lifestyles are as well. The MMA fighter who owns the only Christian-inspired MMA clothing line, for example. Religion gave him purpose, and now his efforts to share his religion (through marketing t-shirts and a lifestyle brand known as ‘Jesus Didn’t Tap) have allowed him to live a modest-yet-comfortable life doing what he loves.

After the point has been made that American’s relationship with faith ranges from conventional to dancing with snakes in the woods of Virginia, American Jesus turns its focus more towards the economic political influence Christianity has in America. We see the various groups and what they support/protest, as well as several knowledgeable minds with numbers and facts to spew about various influences and the resulting impact on elections over the past 50 years. One would like to think a lot of what is presented is common knowledge, but rarely is all this knowledge brought together and examined as a whole, which is what sets Garriga’s work with American Jesus apart from other documentaries attempting to tackle religion in the US. He realizes it may seem crazy to think they all work together when it seems they all want desperately to have their unique identities, but there are a number of core beliefs that almost universally shared (abortion being one) and those beliefs have guided the US since inception.

Unfortunately, there comes a point in Garriga’s attempts to diversify the audience’s exposure to different aspects of Christianity and its impact on culture that the film begins losing steam and never recovers. The third act feels more like an effort to expand what would otherwise be a lengthy short film into a full-length feature without presenting anything all that interesting for viewers to chew on. The central interview revolves around author Frank Schaeffer – who more or less acts like the ‘inside man’ for the Christian marketing machine based on his childhood experiences as part of a Christian Mission – and as the film settles into his insight on the beautiful quilt of personalities that we witness in the early segments of the film quickly slip into the background. It’s no longer about America and it’s often quirky relationship with the unknown, but something else entirely, and by the time the film gets back to its collection of characters its only to big them a brief farewell before the credits.

Films like American Jesus take years and countless hours of film to create, which makes cutting together the best stuff into a coherent narrative even more difficult than some big budget blockbusters. Where Garriga falters with this effort is in his desire to do too much in a single film. Had he chosen to simply paint a portrait of America’s long and confusing relationship with religion he would have succeeded with flying colors, but American Jesus tries to do that in addition to revealing high-grossing world of Christian branding. The problem is, not everyone Garriga showcases in his patchwork quilt of American beliefs is also marketing products. Some simply love their creator.

Score: C+

Review written by: James Shotwell Follow @utgjames

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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