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michaelivar
Reviews
God Forbid (2022)
interesting, consuming story marred somewhat by politics and loud music
This documentary would have been an easy 9 or 9.5 with just concentrating on the story. However, even though I agree with the politics of the story outside of the Falwells, at times it is too heavy handed and not exactly related to the story. In addition, somebody forgot to edit the loud music that makes it hard to understand what is being said towards the end of the movie for many minutes.. What the heck happened to the editors?
The story itself is extremely well done. Giancarlo Granda comes across well, controlled, and very sincere for the most part. His sister helps to give us some background about who her brother is and how this ordeal affected him, which is important. You see the power of this middle aged woman on a horny 20 year old, as Granda himself confesses. You see what appears to be an obsession with him. He had been a quiet teenager, and now he was getting all this attention. Soon he was being brought into a real estate deal, and becoming more sexual with Becki Falwell as time went on. Jerry himself would watch or have sex with his wife after Giancarlo. A soap opera couldn't have done it better than this real one.
Things fall apart when the real estate deal goes bad, and then Granda starts feeling used, and when he tries to break away, he sees what hold the Falwells have on him. He also sees the hypocrisy of the strict rules that students must follow at Liberty U, and yet the President and his wife are having orgies with no penalty. We see Falwell endorsing Trump, with reasons that may have to do with what was known about the Falwell's affair.....
This is a story well told, teaching us about the dangers of mixing hypocritical religion, power, deception, and sex.
Father Joseph (2015)
An amazing, inspirational priest in the poorest of countries-Haiti
Spoiler alert. This is quite the movie documentary, and wasn't expecting it to be as powerful as it was. It is about Father Joseph Philippe and his team, who with genuine courage, integrity, boundless energy, human stubbornness, and faith in God, struggles to build schools, orphanages, a community center, and the first rural college in Haiti, among other things. The movie has no happy ending as such, but progress continues to be made after the devastating earthquake of 2010. Along the say, we meet his inspirational team, but we are also tempered by those who lost their lives for the causes to which Father Joseph aspires, because of political corruption. This is a priest who combines idealism with the realities of life, and is one of the most genuinely moving documentaries I have ever seen. There is nothing fake in this movie, and the movie makers do a superb job showing the challenges and faith that drives Father Joseph and his team. I hope it gets the widespread distribution that it deserves. This is the real deal.