
Jesus Camp
Becky Fischer runs Kids on Fire, a summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota, where evangelical children speak in tongues, weep over abortion, and pray over a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush. Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow three of Fischer's young campers, including Levi, a home-schooled boy training to be a preacher, as they prepare for what Fischer calls spiritual warfare, aiming to build an army of Christian children as committed as their counterparts in radical Islam. The camera stays close during the camp's rallies, catching kids sobbing and shaking under Fischer's direction, then pulls back to a Missouri radio host, Mike Papantonio, who challenges Fischer on air about mixing religion and politics. Scenes at home show parents home-schooling with creationist textbooks and coaching children on abortion politics before they are old enough to vote. The film offers no narration and no verdict, just the camp, the sermons, and the kids caught between belief and childhood, leaving the viewer to weigh what they've watched.