Marjoe / Thoth
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Movie Reviews of Marjoe / Thoth
Movie Review: Recommended for Christians to see how the rest of the world often sees Christianity
Summary: 4 Stars
I love this type of documentary.
It is so much better to observe than to be told, and here the only commentary is Marjoe himself. There is no agenda, apart from documenting Marjoes process and his thoughts and feelings. Unlike a lot of today's documentary's such as Michael Moores, it does not include the opinion of the film-makers but rather allows the viewers to make up their own minds.
The movie begins with a brief history of Marjoes abused background as a gimmick invented by his parents to take advantage of Christians by teaching him to be the worlds youngest travelling evangelists. It appears that they never believed and nor did he ever believe what he preached. By the time he was a teenager, he was bitter twisted and estranged from his mum and dad. He ended up a hippie, who occasionally preached to assist his financial problems.
Marjoe isn't so much about God or even about Christianity, but rather it is about coming clean and revealing truth. It also shows the sad results of greed and child abuse.
I felt sorry for Marjoe as he searched for the identity he never really had.
I recommend this film for people who are interested in religion, particular Christians who want an honest example of how the world often sees them.
I am yet to review Thoth.
Movie Review: there's one born every minute
Summary: 4 Stars
long withheld after its successful theatrical release a generation back, this wonderful documentary takes a look at marjoe gortner, bred to be a child evangelist on the circuit of the 1950s bible belt, and his eventual rejection of, return to, and subsequent final withdrawal from the hokum of the tent circuit in the years before the television crowd took over. the movie is both sickening and hilarious, as we get to watch marjoe (a merging of the names mary and joseph) rake in the bucks from a bevy of pathetic and impoverished suckers. its scary to realize that sinclair lewis had written "elmer gantry" a generation before, and that in todays world we are still subjected to benny hinn and the like -- but i guess this nonsense will just keep rolling along ...
Movie Review: Enlightening Documentary
Summary: 4 Stars
I didn't even know that this documentary existed until seeing a reference for it in Christopher Hitchen's book entitled, "God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything". At times I was simply stunned by the audacity of some of the preachers/ministers in the piece that we're asking their congregation to dig deep (in their wallets) for Jesus and then over Sunday dinner would talk about how they were going to invest the money (for themselves) in property in Brazil. There were so many of these brazen moments that it really turned my stomach. I really think more people should see this documentary.Movie Review: Morjoe
Summary: 4 Stars
This documentary was very powerful and eye opening. To think that people are being fooled like this everyday by preachers like this blows my mind. Liars are every where and this is the evidence that there are wolves in sheep clothing out there. Wake up and serve the heavenly Father not man.Movie Review: nowhere near as great as I was expecting
Summary: 2 Stars
Executive summary: Marjoe Gortner, an itinerant preacher famous for long ago having lit up the pulpit as a little boy, finally wearies of the hypocrisy of the Pentecostal tent-revival culture and allows a documentary crew to follow him about on his last big gig, where he advises the audience throughout on the best ways to fleece the faithful while giving them what they want.
The film won an Oscar as "best documentary" in 1972, but was forgotten in a vault somewhere until about 2002, when the makers of this DVD unearthed it and secured the rights.
Look, this must have been utterly mind-blowing back in '72, but nowadays, after so many James Randi specials, so many 60 minutes investigations, and so much Penn and Teller, this thing will strike you as mild -- if not forgettable.
Heck, even in '72 it could have packed more of a punch: I'd have pushed for more scenes of Marjoe's then-dissolute lifestyle interlarded with his cynical comments, and less of the actual preaching -- something virtually everybody has already seen plenty of. There's so much of it in this film that the effectiveness of the whole is noticeably blunted.
Note that this release of "Marjoe" is bundled with "Thoth" (you cannot buy them separately), a 40-minute video about a talented but pretentious NYC busker, a film that is about 35 minutes too long. That's on a separate disk.