Bill Maher, Larry Charles vs. Religion
Posted by Jay C on March 2nd, 2007
Filed under: News
Hollywood’s attack on religion continues. Not that I mind. With James Cameron’s recent announcement that he (and the archeoligists and scientists who actually did all of the work) may have found Jesus’ bones, (which although interesting, will most likely be remember along side Geraldo’s opening of Al Capone’s vault) it seems that religious philosophers and Biblical scholars are on the defense. Well sorry guys, but it’s about to get much worse. A few scratched up tombs are nothing compared to the anti-christ himself…Bill Maher. According to /Film, Maher, known for his outspoken anti-religious beliefs, has teamed up with Borat director and Seinfeld co-creator Larry Charles for an upcoming documentary on religion. The film was announced at this years Berlin Film Festival, but the details are somewhat sparse. Here’s what Variety had to say:
“In the aftermath of “Borat,” one of the most intriguing projects to surface at Berlin’s EFM is the untitled Larry Charles doc being touted by First Look Intl. It features Bill Maher in a satirical investigation of the major global religions and sounds calculated to invite letter bombs from fanatics of every creed. Charles and Maher have already been shooting for some time below the radar in the Mid-East and London, but footage is being kept tightly under wraps.”
In a single page press release, Charles describes the film as ‘Borat’ meets ‘Fahrenheit 9/11‘. Sounds like a pretty obvious comparison to me. If there’s one thing you can count on with Maher, it’s the fact that he speaks his mind. I seem to recall a controversial comment made on his now defunct prime time television show Politically Incorrect in which he compared mentally challenged children to dogs. He was wrong to make such an outrageous statement. ALL kids are like dogs, not just those who are mentally challenged. With Charles directing and Maher starring, this film will definitely make a great conversation piece at your next family function.
Related Link: /Film: Bill Maher teams up with Larry Charles
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August 6th, 2008 00:42
I just saw this film for its debut at the Traverse City Film Festival. Larry Charles, the director, was in the house and answered questions afterwords. I was very excited to get a ticket to see this film as I’m a big fan of Bill Maher’s show and love Charle’s effort in Borat. The show was sold out in minutes.
Sadly, the film comes nowhere close to Charles last effort, Borat. It’s only sporadically funny and relies mostly on cuts to archival footage and old campy movies about religion for its gags. Meanwhile, the effort feels very much cobbled together, lazily constructed(boom mikes and second cameras can be spotted in many of the shots), and riddled with all kinds of biases and stereotypes that cynically defeats the film’s essential call for a more rational approach to faith-based thought.
Charles and Bill Maher travel all over the world to try to come to terms with the power, prevalence, and irrationality of religion. They manage to locate a seemingly infinite number of freaks, extremists, and closeted homosexuals and proceed to make them look stupid, not so difficult. Yet, if these people don’t sufficiently embarrass themselves, then Charles mocks them with text that appears below their comments, sound effects that ridicules them(a mean lady gets a a witch’s cackle), and cuts that reduce them to the moronic. There isn’t much space here, ironically, for a personal response, or a moment to let something sink in; the cuts come at furious, demanding, and pejorative pace and sequence.
This is done not just for comic effect, where it often fails save in the purely sophomoric dimension, but has a polemical intent that favors Charles’ overt biases and facile, but semi-racist, connections. For example, at one point, a man in charge of a religious theme park where they reenact scenes of the crucifiction, says many visitors come from far away, even the Gaza Strip. As soon as the words come out of the man’s mouth, Charles cuts to a gun-wielding Arab in a mask. In fact, Charles projects dozens of images violent Arabs(welcome to Hollywood!) using archival footage to further the claim, however unexplored in the film, that Islam is an inherently violent religion, a claim often made by right-wing idealogues. Charles and Maher ignore the political dimension as an explanatory variable in violence, blame it on religion, and take a decidly simplistic view of terrorism in the process, ignoring class and social justice and imperial humiliations as possible causes for violence. There is no mention of state-based violence by Christian and Jewish armies that use religion as their moral justification. While I realize that such a scope may be difficult in such a forum, Charles and Maher appear to want us to take their arguments seriously and question our assumptions about religion, while neither has bothered to do the same by shamelessly taking the low road and falling in line to the media’s ignoble history of projecting violent images of Arabs and Muslims when they bother to show them at all(Read Shaheen’s “Reel Arabs”). If this had some comic purpose, it might be understood, but here, it comes off like propaganda of a nasty and ignorant order. (They even roll out Yassir Arafat, an avowed Arab secularist, in a montage of religious extremists who encourage violence)
It’s a shame that Charles relied so heavily on archival footage and sound effects for comic effect. In Borat, he plays it closer to the vest and allows Sascha Cohen to carry the film. Perhaps his cinematic sleights of hand were a necessity in the editing room since there wasn’t enough quality footage. Still, Charles stated after the film that he wants to release 15 hours of film on t.v. that ended up on the cutting room floor in thirty minute increments. I would recommend the same for this shoddy and half-ass effort, which would be much better suited to television, preferably the higher numbers in the cable universe. It’s a shame because this is a film a really wanted to like. The hallelujeuh chorus on the left has lately gotten so loud and uniform, I really wish we could sing a new tune or two, a little less cynically perhaps.
October 24th, 2008 14:47
Hidden Talent in focus
Not many would take the trouble of going out to far off places in search of talent, interest of people and try to know about their life style. Of all places, Lyari was chosen by an enthusiast, equipped with foreign education and training to look for something that has not been highlighted to date, and is of interest to majority of people, and also there is an story behind it.
It is with commitment and determination that comes from foreign media exposure that that this enthusiast tried out ‘what he has learned’ in foreign lands, where people and their interest is not only respected but also regarded as of prime importance in the nation building process.
An Early Sunset is a short documentary on the subject of soccer in Lyari; that had been the nucleus of football in the Southeast Asia. The documentary pays tribute to the legends of Lyari who once ruled the subcontinent’s soccer. While at the same time documentary aims at the present day problems of young footballers like Imran Abdullah who is uncertain about his professional career in the future.
The short documentary was shot in a single day that features interviews of Ali Nawaz Baloch, the footballer with presidential pride of performance, Ahmed Jan, former FIFA referee, Nasir Karim, Chairman South Football Association, Tariq Lutfi, former Pakistan National soccer Team Coach etc.
The soccer documentary was presented to a test audience of the footballers of Lyari, the spectators along with the chief guest of the documentary screening Mr. Rafique Engineer, Provincial Minister for Katchi Abadis Sindh not only appreciated the documentary makers for their passion of the game but also announced a sum of Rs. 10,000 for the budding footballer Imran, featuring in An Early Sunset; who once was forced to work in a repair shop thanks to financial constraints.
It is interesting that Lyari in the past was connecting three big cities of the subcontinent; Calcutta , Dhaka and Karachi through the power of football. Even the film stars of the region like Dilip Kumar, Madhubala and Nadeem were great admirers of soccer players of Lyari. The then Indian Prime Minister Nehru had photographs with Mohammad Omer who is known as the father of Lyari football. The documentary also shows that Lyari turns into a little Brazil during the FIFA soccer world cup as the flags of the Latin American country are seen in the houses supporting the Brazilian soccer squad. Lyari footballers are similar to Brazilian peers not only in physical sense but in playing style too.
The documentary is an effort purely volunteered by the people who wanted to highlight the prime sport of Lyari. The documentary is in English with the voice over by Mohammad Ali. The documentary is brilliantly edited by Jehangir Hanif and produced by Khalid Hasan Khan.
November 17th, 2008 14:12
soccer documentary on Lyari