God Forbid

I saw an ad for this documentary on TikTok and knew I had to watch. I recognized the Falwell name but was unaware that any of this occurred. I had a vague recollection of some type of scandal but that was it. The documentary does well laying out the way GianCarlo was drawn into their world and the repercussions of that decision. This was a good documentary, but the background music was too loud for me. The music would stop for a moment then start again. It would have been a 9, or maybe a 10, but the music was distracting. It is probably just me and this won't stop me from recommending this doc to others, but I had to pause frequently and restart. I finally turned the volume down and watched with subtitles.

The story itself is hard to believe. To think that someone in the public eye is stupid enough to do something that is so sleazy is shocking. Here the Falwell's have this persona of being straight laced ultra religious people, and set high moral standards for students at the university, yet they secretly engage in all sorts of sleazy activities. Disgusting.

As an aside, reading some of the negative reviews by Trump supporters I had to laugh. Many said that the second half of the movie tried to make trump and the republicans look bad. LOL! Trump does a pretty darn good job of that all by himself. Lighten up people.

It appears by some of the reviews that people have a hard time hearing the truth about the hypocrisy of these evangelical political pundits. This documentary does an excellent job of showing how predatory and powerful the religious right has become in the last 40 years. Manipulating the weak minded by bashing the morals of others all the while living a double life. I can't believe people still put any weight in what these hypocrites say after the truth has come out about so many of them. Bunch of snake-oil salesmen (and women). I feel truly sorry for the young man that got roped into JFJ's chaos.

Judging by some of the user reviews, this excellent documentary reveals too much painful truth about the virulent hypocrisy and corruption that lies beneath the Evangelical right.

People are okay with all the lurid details of the sex scandal, but don't like the political aspects of the film. The problem with that is that Evangelicals have made themselves political so, when you connect all the dots, you can't get away from the uncomfortable truth that America is at a dangerous tipping point when flagrantly hypocritical conmen (and women) are putting on a religious act and telling you how to vote.

I thought the documentary was well made and clearly well researched. It exposed not only the hypocrisy of the Falwells, but the white evangelical movement as a whole. I found Granda to be believable and well prepared to support his account of events. He was not innocent, and he admits that freely and in detail, but they ran over him and damn near cost him his life and then Jerry threw his own wife directly under the bus to preserve....what? His godly reputation? I live not far from Falwellville (Liberty) and I don't know anyone who was surprised by this. His alcoholism and lack of character and moral compass were the worst kept secret in Lynchburg. While I believe that what you do in the privacy of your relationship is of no concern if no one is getting hurt (ultimately granda was damaged), when you make your fortune and grab political power by oppressing others you deserve the fall from the grace you pretended to embrace.