As It Finally Comes to the Cities (and the Liberals), IndieWIRE Looks at the Controversial Jesus Camp Strategy

Earlier this week, we mentioned the disappointing first weekend for Jesus Camp, the acclaimed new film from Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.  Subsequent to that, IndieWIRE's Steven Rosen took a closer look at Magnolia's controversial strategy for the film, which started with an attempt to pull the film from Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival, citing the fear that conservatives and evangelicals would shun the film if it was associated with the famous liberal firebrand.

Rosen notes that Magnolia's decision to open first in the "Bible belt" and save the second weekend for urban centers like New York has, at least initially, backfired:

(Magnolia's Eamonn Bowles) said he believes Christians could relate to (Jesus Camp) if they were not first forced onto the defensive by big-city reviewers who, whether or not they like the film, see the activities it portrays as tantamount to political and religious indoctrination of children. In one scene, for instance, children lay hands on a cardboard cut-out of President Bush.

So he tried to bring it to them before opening in major-media markets. "We wanted to bring the film out in the heartland without it being seen as having the agenda of a liberal film coming out with New York reviews," Bowles said. "A lot of people in the heartland would say, 'I went to a children's camp or a church like that.' To a lot of people in the Northeast, it's behavior they haven't seen before."

Fortunately or unfortunately for the film, ABC News ran a piece last weekend that showed the very scene mentioned above - the cardboard cutout of George Bush.  This ABC piece was linked by blogs all over the web, mostly liberal blogs but also on the hugely-read Drudge Report.  Comments on a Huffington Post entry included, " Sending kids to a "JESUS CAMP" is a form of CHILD ABUSE/BRAIN WASHING!"  In addition, the film has been advertising on numerous liberal political sites, including the influential Daily Kos.

But, as Rosen notes, Magnolia wasn't prepared for one of the film's interviewees to come out publicly against the film:

But several weeks ago (Bowles) learned that a powerful religious leader - Colorado Springs-based Rev. Ted Haggard of the National Association of Evangelicals - had seen a tape of the film and disliked it. He is featured briefly in it, looking directly into the camera and making a comment during a church service.

Haggard put the word out to avoid the film, Bowles said. "He thinks maybe he doesn't come off so well. He looks a little flip and maybe that's some of that." Bowles said that when the manager of a Colorado Springs theater showing the film called Haggard's organization for a recommendation, he received five separate return calls to avoid it.

Last week, Denver Post reporter Eric Gorski wrote about a special screening of the film in Colorado Springs, which the in-attendance filmmakers hoped would prompt a discussion. But it lured just 40 people.  In that story, quoted below, Haggard explained his opposition:

In an e-mail, he called the film yellow journalism with "a strong agenda like any Michael Moore film with the cinematography of 'The Blair Witch Project.' It does represent a small portion of the charismatic movement, but I think it demonizes it," said Haggard, a charismatic Christian who does not usually speak in tongues from the pulpit. "Secularists are hoping that evangelical Christians and radicalized Muslims are essentially the same, which is why they will love this film.'"

Jesus Camp, which has been well-reviewed by most of the "big-city reviewers", finally hits the Big Apple today, opening at the Empire 25 and the Angelika.  Next weekend, it expands to LA, SF, DC and Chicago.