Fall from Grace

I have never experience such a range of emotions while watching a film, from anger and rage to down right disappointment and sadness. Something has gone terribly wrong in the mind of the Phelps family. They are the reason that Christians around the world are stereotyped into these kind of hate mongers. I am dumb founded by these people, in the ultimate act of love and sacrifice their God sent his only son to die for their and all of our sins. Sins that in Gods mind are all equally horrible yet Jesus at no time held up signs or preached that God hated anyone be it any kind of sinner. So from such an act of love these people have choose to express nothing but hate. I simply don't understand, I am so imperfect that to damn anyone for there sins would make me feel like the worlds biggest hypocrite, the only one qualified for that is God. A pastor in this film I thought said it best when he said he preaches what Jesus preached and chooses to stay silent on the issues Jesus chose to stay silent on. I would assume that if God felt that homo-sexuality was this huge issue then his son would have made a more clear stance in the Bible so it would not be open to interpretation by individuals. Personally I have my beliefs and I stand strongly behind them but I do not force those beliefs onto anyone else and my goal isn't to force anyone to believe what I believe but for the LOVE of Jesus to shine through me, the LOVE. That's what it's all about, that's the very cornerstone of Christianity, how do you loose that? So to the Phelps family I don't have words of anger or hate for you even though I disagree so completely with what you do, to the Phelps I have just one question, where is the love?

Fred Phelps has run the Westboro Baptist Church for over 50 years, but the church only grew famous after it picketed the funeral of hate crime victim Matthew Shepard. Since then, it has staged protests at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, alleging that the troops got killed because America tolerates homosexuality.

Ryan Jones's documentary "Fall from Grace" is a look at Phelps and his congregation, which consists largely of his family. It features interviews with people who consider Phelps evil, but there are also interviews with Phelps and his family, who all make themselves look psychotic.

The point is that Phelps has twisted the gospel to fit his narrow-minded views, as have numerous other clergymen. Even so, the price of free speech is that we have to allow even the most repulsive speech. This is a documentary that everyone should see.

In the past year, the WBC picketed the funerals of Christina-Taylor Green (a nine-year-old girl killed in the attack on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords) and stunt performer Ryan Dunn. The WBC had planned to picket the funerals of Elizabeth Taylor and Steve Jobs, but then canceled their plans.

This documentary is about one of the most despicable and evil men living in America today. The Reverend Fred Phelps is a leader of a small cult in Kansas that has risen to national prominence due to their protests of funerals and churches--with its followers holding up placards that are mostly too offensive to list here on IMDb! Among the mildest of them is "God Hates America" and "Thank God for IEDs". The group takes sick pleasure in offending and makes no effort to actually convert. Their message is that God hates pretty much everyone and that THE message of the Bible is God's wrath and all-consuming hatred of everything about the US, Sweden, Ireland, Mexico and, well, pretty much EVERYONE but the 60-some members of his odd little hate filled church.

The documentary features many interviews with Phelps and his clan. It also features many interviews with community leaders, ministers and phone interviews with two of Phelps' own children who have left the cult and talk about the abusive nature of their clan.

About the only aspects of the film I didn't particularly care for were some quotes from other ministers (such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson). While their views on homosexuality might offend some, they never in their worst days came close to the evil hatred-spewing methods of Phelps and his smug followers, so playing the "moral equivalency card" seems inappropriate.

For a slightly more succinct and more interesting view of the Phelps cult, try watching the one hour British documentary "The Most Hated Family in America". While featuring far less of Phelps himself (he was too surly and hate-filled when they tried interviewing him so they had little footage of this maniac in action), they let the kids in the cult do a lot more talking and the film maintained a tighter focus--as a few of the interviews from FALL FROM GRACE seemed a tad weak.

While there's a lot of repetition in this documentary, it's valuable primarily for it's access to the Phelps family who have no hesitation to speak their beliefs. It's often easy to dismiss bigotry as ignorance, but here we see it serves other purposes. The need to hate outwardly masks an inward deficit which permits that deficiency to go unaddressed. The filmmakers let a lot slide by: allegations of abuse, the circumstances for the Phelps' disbarment, the tax benefits of being a church when only your family are members, the misuse/misquotation of scripture to name a few.

While its useful to have the Phelps speak for themselves, those who counter their arguments aren't nearly as passionate or convincing (I agree with them, but their statements aren't developed by the filmmaker).

The two most chilling moments come from family members themselves. There are taped telephone conversations about why two of the children left their family, and the analysis of their father's "issues" seemed very accurate. And the older children who will carry forward their father's legacy are so one-dimensional in their hatred that it borders on madness.

The use of the family's placards becomes plodding and repetitious. More effective is when the grandchildren (roughly 8 or 9) are asked which signs are their favorite to carry at their pickets around the World. While most children will recite various Biblical passages as their "favorite" and would be unable to elaborate further what those passages meant, these children recite hate speech which is deeply shocking, but of course they are unable to elaborate what those slogans really mean. But I also found that their parents really couldn't do much more to explain their hatred. Their vehement denunciation of homosexuality and the government was just as lacking as their relationship to and understanding of themselves and the world at large.

I cannot imagine anyone concerned with civil rights that is not aware of the Phelps family and Westboro Baptist Church, yet they did not hit my radar until they had been protesting for a few years. It was their appearance at the Matthew Shepard funeral that brought them to my attention. Their protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers in Iraq brought them to the attention of most Americans.

My generation is used to hate-mongers. We have had Hitler and Stalin. We have preachers like Robertson, Dobson, Fallwell and others, but no one is above Fred Phelps in his pure hatred of anyone who does not agree with him. It is hard to understand what motivates such people. My personal feeling is that they were probably not breastfed. Just a theory, but it is probably as good as any.

K. Ryan Jones put together enough footage to give us some insight into what drives Phelps, but he cannot know the complete picture. The anger inside this man in put forth by his own words, the words of his children and grandchildren, and the fact that he has managed to alienate all who come into contact with him to the point that he was disbarred and had to turn to hating gays, lesbians, and trans-gendered, or "fags" as he calls them to have an outlet for his anger.

You hear from his own children who have escaped the physical abuse they endured growing up, and you see the new generation of grandchildren who are indoctrinated to hate without understanding what it is that they hate. His children are like Nike, they tell their children to "Just do it." Anyone who is interested in civil rights, and combating hatred in American should check this film out. It is currently getting wide play on Showtime.