John Safran vs. God

NOTE: only one episode discussed here.

Writer, co-producer and host John Safran goes on a worldwide expedition to find God in various religions. Instead he exposes the various types of practices carried out in the name of religion. It begins with how the supreme judge of the Shariat court in UK is so Fatwa-friendly that he issues one in the blink of the eye.

It continues to say how old junkies in Texas are using the garb of Native American religion (peyote) to get a fix, legally. Later, it points out that Scientology is really nothing more than a group of obsessed sci-fi believers. A film such as this is an entertainer – its comic sequences, over the top statements and sweeping judgments are carried out in a comic manner, thereby ensuring a lot of laughs. However, laughter is all that there is to it.

The film is (somewhat) a polemic, aimed at debunking all other views and voices except those of its creators. Large tracts of commentary, magnificent editing of sequences and musical scores as fillers make it a very clever ploy to get audiences to share in their beliefs. So even though it exposes individuals, it uses these to make sweeping statements at the religion per se. For e.g. the Muslims following Islam in Britain are extremists, the peyote way church is just a group of drug junkies and scientologists are trying to brainwash the world into following them. Of course it does not literally say that. However, the juxtaposition of visuals and news clippings along with comments loaded with 'If', 'Perhaps' and 'maybe' leave the viewer to connect the dots in a style earlier seen with Michael Moore.

Lastly, its holier-than-thou attitude makes it into a screening of snob value. So, even when it provokes thought it is not the direction intended. Perhaps, the film is just a reaffirmation of the existing prejudices of SOME, but these cannot be counted as ALL.

This might have worked had John Safran been remotely talented as a personality or comedian...but just being a novelty of an unknown white/jewish rapper doesn't really make for witty rapport with guests. The segments ranged from creepy to a 30-minute face-palm.

Having seen all of the episodes on TV I can say that they have been very interesting to watch. Some episodes in the middle sort of fall over themselves as he tries to stretch out weak jokes. But the vast majority had me in stitches. The Scientology bit, his rants and the countless jokes about Mormonism and many more are truly hilarious and often makes poignant criticisms of the various religions. Needless to say, the final exorcism episode is an exhilarating fly on the wall documentary, although it was obviously heavily edited considering the process went over 4 days. Form your own opinion about it, but remember that all is not as it seems and a lot was cut out. John doesn't seem to have converted! The DVD will contain the outtakes from this episode so it will be interesting to see what they reveal. Overall a highly entertaining Australian series which goes where few other shows have and has some truly revealing pieces (the voodoo one in particular!).

Having just seen the final episode of 'John Safran Vs. God', I'm pleased to conclude that this series is as equally entertaining as his previous show, 2002's 'Music Jamboree' (despite being two episodes shorter). While religion is perhaps a risky topic on which to base a television show, Safran manages to explore the subject in his usual unique style by placing himself at the centre of his stories. While this might have been a less appealing method had the show featured somebody more subdued, it is Safran's personality and the situations he is willing to place himself in that makes the series as entertaining as it is informative.

Oh, and the final episode is one of the most riveting conclusions to a television series I've seen in a long time.

The DVD, released in late October 2004, looks to be a worthwhile purchase.

Watching the complete series of John Safran vs. God was the first time I got in contact with this peculiar Aussie. Although religion as a subject might be a difficult one to make a series on, John carries out his task diligently. He tries out several religions, some of them being well-known such as Zen Buddhism and Hinduism while other religions might be less known. How about a church where peyote, a a cacti which contains the psychedelic substance mescaline, is in the centre of religious practice? How about cursing "priests" in Mozambique of whom are accused of Australia's football team's weak performance due to a curse cast 30 years ago? There is a lot more to this series than this as John tries out several ways of reaching a higher spiritual state of mind. John has a sort of sarcastic approach to his search for enlightenment and he frequently mixes the footage of his experiences with a heavy dose of irony and rants about religious practice in the context of hypocrisy, I would say.

Although I do not regret that I watched the series as some of the episodes are great, I must stress that John at times becomes a bit silly about his rants. Yet the series is worth to give a shoot.

6/10