The God Who Wasn’t There (Review)

Sure, it’s been out for a while, but I just watched it last night. I find that I have to look at this objectively, which is a bit hard tot do. After all, after studying this stuff for over 16 years, you amass quite a collection of books, videos and other forms of information. As you can imagine, it is quite hard to find something that is “new” to what you have already seen. Unfortunately, I was expecting more than what this 50 minute film brought to the table. (Personally, I blame the pre-release hype for my expectations.)

Categorized as a documentary, this was anything but one. Don’t get me wrong, my fellow atheist friends, I thought that there was some useful information in the movie. Generally speaking though, the point of a true documentary on any issue or subject is to explore all views with regards to the subject matter equally. That certainly was not the case with this film. I do not have a problem with the content or the way it was presented, just its label.

For those of you like myself that have poured themselves over textbooks, research work, learned new languages in order to better understand…(you get the point and know who you are), I am sorry to say that you will not find anything in this film that you have not already covered. That is not entirely a bad thing. Sometimes a refresher course is nice. I, however, found much of the information remedial in nature.

That being said, should you know someone who has not studied, this would be a good primer. Basic enough to give you a place with which to start your research, yet not advanced enough to counter the next person who bangs at your door tomorrow wanting to “win you over to the Lord.”

The production value of the film isn’t all that great. Think of it as a powerpoint presentation set to some techno music for much of the film. The music seemed to play under every interview in the film, which seemed to steal the focus from what was being said. Also, I NEVER want to see 10 minutes of old religious movie clips again! (The acting was atrocious back in the day.)

All in all, 2.5 stars.