Religulous – DVD Review

By June L. Mar 9, 2009, 16:31 GMT

Comedian & tv host bill maher takes a pilgrimage across the globe on a mind-opening journey into the ultimate taboo: questioning religion. ...more

I’m not a big fan of cringe comedy, so this production is definitely not my cup of tea.  Director Larry Charles (Borat and Seinfeld) and comedian Bill Maher explore religion.  In a usually taboo area, Maher asks questions and demands answers of the faithful of many different religions. 

Sometimes wickedly funny and other times just plain embarrassing Religulous is a thought provoking if uncomfortable look at why people believe and what they believe.

The USA is a country that has freedom of religious belief written into the Constitution, therefore you would think that we would prize tolerance of different faiths as an important principle in our daily lives. 

Unfortunately religion has become a battleground for many, a point to hate or ridicule others and a way to express one’s feelings of superiority over “lesser” beings.  I’m not sure having a comedian expose the foibles of belief is the way to strengthen faith or acceptance of differences. 

What Religulous does do is get the viewer’s attention.  Those who don’t believe will have their idea that believers are misguided strengthened, and those who do believe may find themselves having to exercise faith based anger management to get through the documentary. 

There is nothing in this documentary to push anyone towards a belief, even as respected experts such as Dr. Francis Collins are being grilled on their thoughts by Bill Maher.  There is little respect shown and it appears that some were unaware that they were going to be questioned in such a rude or belligerent style. 

What the documentary does reveal, is that we are human, fallible, and often guilty of twisting belief into something that works for us rather than it’s original meaning.  While it is true that most of us are doing the best we can, it is also evident that there are those who make faith or belief a point of manipulation of others for a hidden agenda, or their own benefit. 

If you are looking for something that has a serious analysis of belief, or a study of comparative religion, Religulous is not that work.

Religulous is presented on single disc, widescreen format with a running time of 101 minutes.  Special features included are a film commentary with Director Larry Charles and Bill Maher.  There are deleted scenes, and Bill Maher’s monologues from around the world.  This documentary is rated R. 

The producers have the right to make the documentary, and it tries to hard to poke fun at belief, coming across as an attempt to provoke responses that will be easily ridiculed.  We are all different, and have different needs and perceptions, and there are many paths to truth.  Religulous conveniently forgets all this.

Religulous is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.