2006, USA
Documentary, Drama
In this world of terrorism and strife, it’s time to build an army to do battle -- an army of little children. Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (The Boys of Baraka) revisit the fertile topic of shaping children’s futures. In their previous endeavor, kids were assisted in determining their lives as individuals. In this film, the kids are allowed little leeway on their projected paths of righteousness.
At Becky Fischer’s Kids on Fire camp in Devils Lake, North Dakota, she molds the country’s future. These kids are strict Evangelicals who are often home-schooled in order to avoid the lies of science and opposing views to their beliefs. America is in the throes of a culture war, and it’s important to shape the minds of these children before they can think for themselves. “They’re so useable in Christianity,” Fischer acknowledges.
Fischer’s goal is to reclaim America for Christ and assume a political takeover by the religious right. She has great praise for President Bush, but still has the kids pray over a cardboard cutout of America’s leader to ensure that he maintains a Christian cabinet. One of the special speakers at camp tells the children how many friends they have lost to abortions, and ultimately takes a few to Washington, D.C., in order to protest. The kids are referred to as a future voting population who will bring enough numbers to sway elections in their favor. If the Middle East can train their terrorists from a young age, so should we.
“It's no wonder, with that kind of intense training and discipling, that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam. I wanna see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam.”
Forget childhood, these kids are ready for war. They confess their sins of dancing for the flesh, reading Harry Potter (he would have been put to death in real life) and telling ghost stories at camp, and they proceed to hook up with the Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues. Feeling guilty and ashamed of their misdeeds, they build to a hypnotic furor while bawling and shouting. One would almost think they were acting out a scene from The Crucible.
Interspersed between life at camp is an opposing view of religion’s place in the country as expressed by Air America host Mike Papantonio. A lawyer who believes in the separation of church and state, his show “Ring of Fire” discusses the problems created by religious extremists. The film culminates in a heated on-air discussion with Fischer, as Papantonio warns, “God has a place for those who mess with children.”
Ewing and Grady have quietly presented a fascinating and disturbing story. However, this documentary could also be viewed as an Evangelical recruitment video. Unlike the children, the audience is not told what to think. As some of these kids wish to preach what they have been taught (though one is advised to work the cute kid angle rather than worry about a message), it would be interesting to revisit them in 15 years and see what they’ve done with the country.