Anyone remember Marjoe Gortner and his Oscar-Winning documentary from 1972?
A little background
Mr. Gortner was born into a family of evangelists. From the age of four, Marjoe was on the road, preaching, marrying couples and saving souls. He was billed as the "World's Youngest Evangelical Preacher". As he grew older, the novelty wore off and Marjoe left the circuit and found the non-violence movement. Eventually, Mr. Gortner returned to evangelism but his heart really wasn't in it. According to Marjoe, he never believed in God. He was just very good at whipping crowds into a furvor and taking their money. Towards the end of his ministerial career, Gortner invited a group of documentary film makers to follow him on his religious tour across the land. The result was this amazing piece of cinema.
In light of today's revelations about Ted Haggard, I advise you to rent or purchase this film. In fact, in light of the
Bush administration's approval of torture methods such as waterboarding, "Marjoe" is more relevant than ever. In fact, it's the reason this man's movie re-entered my mind. When I saw the film as a young woman, I was stunned by Mr. Gortner's descriptions of his mother's disciplinary methods - methods designed to punish without leaving marks.
To read about the film, here is a link:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0068924/If you wish to rent the film, I have just watched it a third time, thanks to my ever-wonderful Netflix subscription. If you wish to purchase the film, there are copies for sale @ Amazon.
For a little YouTube taste of Marjoe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zHqKI4X8bA