HBO Documentary Criticized by Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family has joined in the criticism over a new documentary by the daughter of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, noting the director’s targeting of non-conventional believers.
Friends of God, which aired on Jan. 25, documents the travel of Alexandra Pelosi as she met evangelical Christians across the United States, but Focus argues that the movie is just a way for the director to ridicule Christians. The interdenominational Christian organization which works to protect and promote traditional family values is only one of the many Christian groups who already expressed their unhappiness with how Pelosi depicted evangelical Christians in the documentary.
According to the filmmaker, the movie is an attempt to show Christians in a light-hearted, non-judgmental way. Focus disagrees, however, noting that her scenes focus on Christians that can easily be mocked. She details non-conventional believers that do not represent Christianity as a whole.
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“Her camera comes with crosshairs," says senior media director of Focus on the Family Gary Schneeberger in One News Now, "and her sights are fixed on Christians. This is yet another hit piece created by big media to paint men and women of faith as kooky or scary, or best of all, from the left’s perspective, both.”
Film interviews include a variety of people ranging from the Christian Wrestling Federation, a car club called Cruisers for Christ, and even the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), Ted Haggard.
The film is self-described as “a look at the many millions of evangelical Christians who have become a formidable force in our culture and our democracy.” This may account for the “odd” selections of Christians chosen, which Focus on the Family detests.
“What I was trying to do was be a tour guide for those of us from the blue states who have some interest in who these evangelical Christians may be,'' Pelosi said to the San Jose Mercury News. ``I felt like I was on an archaeological dig. I was going as an ambassador of the blue states into the red states to try to understand and figure out if we could all get along.''
Christians argue that the film’s representation is not unbiased though. The camera is depicting the red states from a blue state perspective.
Focus on the Family also criticizes the cinematography of the documentary, saying the way in which it was filmed makes Christians look questionable.
Among other things, the movie includes exaggerated close-ups shot from low angles, which warps the person’s appearance and can make the viewer feel that "something is not quite right with these people," Schneeberger explains to One News Now.
He then went on to say, “She feigns just enough interest in her subjects to get them to open up, and then makes sure she presents them in the most unflattering light possible."
Pelosi has also made two previous HBO documentaries, including her breakthrough “Journey with George” filmed from the Bush campaign jet in 2000.
