Religulous is a documentary written and starring stand-up comedian Bill Maher, and directed by Larry Charles (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazhakstan). Good documenatries always take a perspective, and the angle of Religulous is that of Atheism. One could even dub Religulous as more Borat than Michael Moore. Bill Maher was brought up as a devout Catholic and his mother is Jewish. One can see how plenty of his irreverant comic material actually stems from his upbringing. Maher’s message of ‘reasonable doubt’ is exorcised in his documentary, and he confronts numerous religious and political figures on their understanding of their faith and it’s secular context. People are often born into a particular faith or subculture, and tend to affiliate themselves to its traditions without much questioning. “It’s just the way it’s always been” seems to be the argument.
Maher’s mission is to raise questions… not only about the origins of faith, but also about its position within world politics. He uses comedy as a shield in order to bait his interviewees and smother awkward situations. Atheism seems to be the universal keycard into each religion, as one could say he’s using it as free trial pass into each faith. However, Maher goes into each interview with ulterior motives. Interviews were set up under the guise of “The Spiritual Journey”, and Maher’s involvement was only made known at the last minute. His intentions are controversial as he wants to debase the non-Atheist contingent of his audience by raising doubt and attacking the very foundations of their faith. The editing is scathing… and Maher uses subtitles to direct judgement on his guest’s opinions in a mocking manner post-mortem. The interviews are punctuated by old religious-themed film clips to reinforce this mocking tone and the guests are made to look like idiots, by closing with out-of-context confused facial expressions.
Maher selects his targets for maximum effect, by going for comedy appeal or flat hypocrisy. The hit list includes: trying to reform an ex-gay counsellor, rally a bunch of truck drivers, trivialise a Rabbi, denounce a man claiming he’s Jesus and debunking the Mormons. However, choosing to interview an actor portraying Jesus for comedy effect, actually turned out to be one of his most compelling battles. The human interest factor is big and Maher must get credit for taking tours of sites referenced in religious texts and not being scared to play devil’s advocate. His probing questions are well-researched and the debates are often quite funny or ironic.
Maher doesn’t spare any religion and attacks the world’s major faiths, after a long tour of Christianity. Religulous’ mocking tone is just a reflection of Maher’s comedy material, but he’s actually trying to dig at something more serious. Religious people struggle to divorce themselves from their religion to take an outsider’s perspective. Many traditions and rituals must seem bizarre to those that are not practicing them. Maher’s world tour is to raise doubt, query relative context between today and the past, and question religion’s involvement in world affairs. However, it’s only scratching the surface and Maher’s material would have been better if it was screened as a TV series. The documentary is extreme, irreverent and offensive to anyone that believes their religion is free of error. The material, language and discussions are in-your-face and it’s surprising that Maher wasn’t physically attacked during his tirade.
His line of questioning is provoking and this documentary succeeds in opening a forum for public discussion. Religulous may be bias, but it’s uncompromising stance on doubt offers enough fodder to stimulate personal investigation. Maher’s comedy isn’t for everyone, and this same principle applies to Religulous.
The bottom line: Stimulating.
