Marjoe

I saw this film on the now gone "Z" Channel in Los Angeles in the early 80's. At that time, I knew "of" Marjoe from when I was a kid watching TV. I didn't know his name, but his face and the really tense overacting he always did. Now I figured out why. It was sad for me to see what people do to their children under the guise of something...here it was religion. This documentary is NOT to show you "religion is bad" or "folks in religion are crooks" but just like in everything else in this world, there are the few that make a bad name for everything. Here, you see it in the manipulation of a child. I was stunned watching this. A must see documentary for all.

And let me add... its been 15 years since the wonderful "Z" Channel went off the air in the Los Angeles area and now with hordes of pay movie channels, not ONE has come to the level of "Z" showing all kinds of programming of movies, documentaries, international films, animations etc. I say that because I haven't seen Marjoe come up, as well as alot of others but they run the SAME films over and over again like none other were made! Take a note pay movie programmers and show these films again.

Marjoe Gortner was a child preacher. He came from a family of evangelists, and was performing marriage ceremonies and traveling the country telling congregations to give up their money to Christ before he was old enough to shave. As a teenager, he gave up that life for a while, then returned to it as a young adult because he needed the money. This film profiles him in those latter days of his preaching career, as he recounts his troubled childhood and exposes the tricks of his trade to the documentary crew.

Marjoe cuts a fairly sympathetic character for somebody who made a living manipulating gullible people into thinking that Jesus could heal their cancer. His body language while addressing the flock is closely modeled after Mick Jagger's, and after this film was released, he became an actor and had a decent run on Hollywood's B-List. Nowadays, he produces celebrity charity events. So his story is not without hope, but there are times at which this film verges on dark comedy, as Marjoe sells people again and again on the patently un-Christian notion that they can simply buy their way into Heaven.

For the record, when a man asked Jesus what he must do to be saved, he said, "Sell all your possessions. Then come follow me." The evangelism industry is still alive and well in America, which makes this film as relevant as ever. I feel for Marjoe. I hope that some of his followers might have eventually realized that what you do outside of church matters more than what you do in church. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to have a liberal minded college professor who showed this documentary in my freshman Religious studies course. Throughout, and after the viewing my classmates and I could not help but laugh at the TRULY strange character Marjoe is (the 70's garb helps). Some of us outright cracked up. Others were offended. He is so glib about bilking the masses. You find yourself sitting back at some point in the flick and saying, "See, I told you." Charisma is awesome and it is rarely seen as strong as Marjoe possesses it.

This is of the finest documentaries I've seen, and I've seen quite a few at festivals in recent years. Not only is Marjoe Gortner as intriguing as any of the great charismatics and eccentrics of documentary cinema, but the documentary technique is top notch. The cinematography in the church scenes is dynamic yet sharp and focused, and the editing keeps the momentum with a steady stream of insights and revelations, culminating in the more honest and confessional final act. It's a relatively long movie, and the goings-on inside the church take up a large proportion of the runtime, but they're shot so expertly, with brave intimacy and varying points of interest, that they never become unbearable. The music, while painfully dated, is totally authentic.

The strange interplay and connectivity between the mainstream youth counter-culture, exemplified by the film crew and Marjoe in his interviews, and the Pentecostal subculture provides most of the thematic interest. There's nothing novel about relating fervent religiosity to the kinds of drug use prevalent in the 70s, but Marjoe's embodiment of this cultural duality, and the ease with which he transitions from ecstatic evangelical to a paragon of counter-cultural values, suggests that these two polar inclinations in American culture are not as disparate as imagined. Marjoe would rather have been a money grabbing rock star like Alice Cooper, and might have been given a different upbringing, but this is as close as he can get. That he's manipulating the spiritual passions of his audience is a fact subordinate to the satisfaction of performing and connecting emotionally. And even as he spouts religious rhetoric that means nothing to him, and takes the money of those expecting miracles and salvation, is he not giving the people exactly what they want, performing the spontaneous and charismatic rites of Pentecostal Christianity in a manner that is skillful and respectful of the traditions and expectations of that faith?

I don't think I can find a single glaring flaw in the film, even as it approaches ethically questionable territory on account of its complicity in Marjoe's act and the necessity to mislead those who are being filmed or interviewed. Certainly, more interactivity with the Pentacostal churchgoers would have been welcome. One questions whether Marjoe is being completely honest in his interviews, but for someone for whom performance and chicanery are inseparable aspects of life, do the filmmakers really need to press the question? Even without a narrating voice, the point comes across with the utmost clarity.

Watching this documentary was painful; despite that fact that the audience wanted to be taken in, was only too willing to be credulous, it was no less painful watching them give away their intelligence and self-respect along with their money to believe the outrageous things that Marjoe does to demonstrate evangelistic hucksterism.

Marjoe's personal story is even more painful; his early childhood literally stolen from him by his cynical and cold-blooded parents, who used to smother him with a pillow or drown him under tap water until he agreed to do their bidding (they used this form of torture because it left no marks on him). He finally got away from them at age 17. His parents kept all of the money he made for them, by the way; it didn't go to charity or even to the church.

Marjoe courageously faces all of his demons, and recreates all the tricks he was taught as a child, to drive the all-too-willing audience into a frenzy of mindlessness as they throw their money at him in hopes of a personal miracle.

And what was the result of exposing the fraud? Nothing. Not one thing changed as the result of this fearless documentary. Evangalism continued to grow even bigger, its stars grew bigger, and when they were finally brought down by their own excesses, instantly replaced. The distributors didn't show it in the South because they were afraid of the outrage. Nice courage there, guys. They should have Especially shown it in the South. Maybe a few people's eyes would have been opened.

People want to believe so badly that there is a quick answer for them, that they will continue to throw money at fraud after fraud, despite being shown exactly how they are being bilked. So are the hucksters the only ones to blame?

Hmm... how do you do that "cross" trick again? Can I get an "Amen!"? How about your Visa number?