Friends of God, a documentary by Alexandra Pelosi, has Christians riled. Pelosi traveled the country conducting interviews with evangelicals, but the finished product left many feeling belittled.
Pelosi -- daughter of the speaker of the House -- appeared to be looking for the most bizarre examples she could find -- including Christian professional wrestlers, Elvis impersonators and pastors of drive-thru churches. All are shot from odd angles that distort their features and make them appear a bit crazed.
Pelosi told Family News in Focus she meant no offense, in fact, she found it to be an eye-opening experience.
"I know that it’s hard for a lot of Christians to believe that I actually went out with the intention of opening a dialogue," she said. "People seem to prejudge me in a way because of my last name that they haven’t been able to get over."
Larry Poland, CEO of Master Media International, said he's spoken to Pelosi at length, and found she just truly doesn’t understand Christians.
“She comes at the subject of evangelicals from such another galaxy," he said. "It was really a shock to her that anyone saw it as negative.”
But Gary Schneeberger, senior director of media at Focus on the Family Action, said that doesn’t excuse her from criticism.
“The perspective of what was onscreen created the impression that Christians are out of step,” he said. “When someone has a camera, it can be very dangerous when they point the camera at someone that they don’t understand.”
Pelosi makes little attempt, Schneeberger noted, to hide her disdain for a mother of 10 who home-schools her children – a woman who explains how she walked away from her ambition to be a lawyer after getting married. Pelosi told the woman most people she knows would consider being home all day with 10 kids torture – and for good measure makes fun of her appearance by comparing her wedding photo (Pelosi says she looked like Barbie) to what she looks like today.
"Pelosi obviously thinks being a wife and mother not only hamstrings a woman from pursuing a fulfilling career, but that it also steals her good looks," Schneeberger said. "If I had to guess, I'd say she’s a graduate of the Michael Moore School of Documentary-Making."
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
