Marjoe

Movies 365: Day 47 – Marjoe

Marjoe Gortner first made national headlines by becoming the youngest ordained minister at the age of four. Marjoe became an evangelist, traveling across the country holding revival meetings, passing the hat at every step. By the time he was fourteen, and his father left town, Marjoe estimated that he and his family had made three million dollars from his evangelism. Marjoe gave up preaching and moved in with an older woman in San Francisco, eventually though lacking faith, but in need of money, Marjoe returned to the evangelism circuit. Marjoe documents his last tour and gives a fascinating behind the scenes look as Marjoe runs what he himself all but says is a con game.

Marjoe is a tremendous film, and one that I really liked a lot. As an agnostic who leans strongly towards atheism, there’s a part of me that always wonders if the guys on TV really believe any of what they’re saying, or if it’s all bullshit, a big con game. Well, if what Gortner reveals in Marjoe is accurate of the way evangelism is today, I’d have to believe that it is indeed a con and nothing more. It’s particularly revealing when, after a prayer meeting, Marjoe  and the preacher at the church he’s visting, retire to the office to count through the stacks of money they’ve collected. Directors Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan got really lucky with their subject, Gortner is a great subject, he speaks well, and at length about evangelism,  the practices of his fellow evangelists, and the ways in which they make their money.

Marjoe is also a sad film, as a lot of the film is spent at the revival meetings, where people believe so much in the words that Marjoe and his fellow evangelists are preaching that they base their lives on the church. It’s sad to see what’s going on behind the scenes, where their beliefs are just a tool for extracting money from them, and bestowing wealth upon the evangelists. It’s interesting that Marjoe himself spends a lot of time talking about how he wants this film, and his confession to change the ways that people look at religion and their faith. One can’t help but wonder where Marjoe’s life would have gone, had he not come from a long line of preachers, and been pushed into evangelism at such a young age. Marjoe is a fascinating look at the business of religion, and is perhaps even more relevant now than it was when it was released nearly forty years ago.

Last updated: 2010-03-05 02:22:03 by user05