Jesus Politics

In Jesus Politics, an Israeli-born infantryman-turned-documentarian attempts to smoke out exactly why his Norman Rockwell vision of apple pie America is dead. To do this he hits the stump with bottom feeders who, for the most part, believe they are guided by a higher power when it comes to landing on one side of a hot-button issue or picking a candidate for president. Not much reaped through the escapades. True, some anecdotes emphasize that the country is treading dangerously close to theocratic tendencies, but you have to wonder how, after director Ilan Ziv logged 17 states and 4000 miles, he merely managed to find these muted characters. His greatest flaw was casting himself into the mix rather than allowing his subjects and their takes to dictate course. Politicos may still need to purchase Jolt soda to stay tuned for all 90 minutes. The rest of us who don’t subscribe to The National Review, but can’t get enough of the dramatic democracy showdown on the small screen, will buy into the storylines and learn a bit about our so-called peers that make up jury pools.

The film looks back three decades when Israel’s military was mobilized on the ground fighting two fronts against Egypt and Syria. Ziv touches on his soldier past—the black and white action shots of mortar rounds and his own testimonials about his soldier past in Joshua’s army—ultimately grants legitimacy. Soon after, the discourse plunges deeper into the historical parallels in the States. With dead duck Nixon ousted and born-again Christian Gerald Ford at the tiller, the country took a sharp turn. Ziv touts theological historian Randall Balmer to dissect how America digressed into a God-fearing, morally charged bunch of bible thumpers. My words, not his. Problem is the director harbors too close to Balmer’s book plugging, and almost shapes the film around what presumably must be his table of contents. Whose film is this? The thrill is gone.

Given the deadline of this year’s presidential election, the drive to can this film on the quick created both ups and downs. Finishing before the ballots are counted keeps both central candidates (Obama and McCain) and their faithful constituency relevant. But the content may not have been batched as best as it could have. You go to Iowa to caucus and rather than really engage it’s a drive-along listening to talk radio commentary or watching CNN footage of Obama’s upset victory speech over Senator Hilary Clinton. You do meet a volunteer who claims that Senator Obama’s run for the White House is a “divine appointment” and that “he has been called to the kingdom.” Sidestep to New Hampshire and meet a housewife who can’t control herself and breaks down into tears when the issue of abortion is discussed. While welling, she talks of children learning about something other than pro-life and squeaks, “I worry about what they see, what they hear, what they think.” After boozing with folks in Atlanta, Ziv sits down for a sort of Sader dinner with a Christian family in Indiana who believe they are doing God’s will by supporting Israel in its survival and success. And top it off with some sallow-looking old guy boasting how the Moral Majority are rejoicing because they found the right to life debate to be the spark to reenergize the young Conservative base.

There are moments that clearly register. But you have to put up with Ziv’s rank Voice Over throughout the entire film. It’s a chapped, cheese grading pitch and really meddles with the setups. The film would have been better served by nixing the narration altogether and using title cards or nothing at all. And though Ziv manages to surprise by sitting-down on Super Tuesday with a most unlikely sect in Tulsa, OK., the film is long gone and aimlessly off its original trajectory. Only time this film has a true pulse is when the director walks solo in the snow at an Exxon station, or is on the road following his GPS and mixes clever cutaways featuring 70s sequences of roller-skating and protest mobs.

What can only be hypothesized after viewing the film is that the creators had Election Day (November 4th) on the brain and therefore skimmed through towns, abridged their stories and quickly cobbled together something to satisfy their project’s needs. If the notion that the goods would lose their luster post-election was motivation to hurry, that is baseless. Indeed, there will be many films released (some cutting as I write this, for sure) featuring the various campaigns, offering intimate strategizing on how they fought the good fight, replete with mudslinging and sappy endorsements. Where there’s a will there’s a camera, after all. But the filmmaker tries to do too much and make it work without standing back and assessing for a bit. When Ziv takes the film back to Israel to the exact frontier in Megido, Israel, where Armageddon is supposed to be fought, you’re forced to suspend the disbelief even though the isolated tidbit seems so contrived.

Too often the director and the producer think they’re seeing something that nobody else sees and they run with it no matter the hiccups and backwash results. Ziv shot some nice frames and got inside homes belonging to Americans who may be evangelicals bent on altruism, or Catholics who need to champion a candidate and compromise with the best of the bunch. But all the medium-rare medallions on the plate are lost in a cluttered broth that drowns flavor. It’s not enough to have good ideas and even good moments. Further, it’s not too much to ask for a documentary to have some cohesion and surprise. Sadly, those are truant, and so is much of the film’s substance.

Distributor: Icarus Films
Directors: Ilan Ziv
Producer: Tamouz Media/Bo Travail! and The Independent Television Service (ITVS), Channel 4 Incorporated and ZDF/ARTE
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Unrated
Running time: 90 min.
Release date: November 1, 2008