Levi O'Brien - Journey through Jesus Camp

The controversial film, Jesus Camp, examined the youth of an Evangelical family. Levi O'Brien's family in particular.

 In my opinion Levi O'Brien was one of the most well spoken twelve year olds I have ever witnessed. The documentarians found him equally as fascinating because of his forthright nature and maturity. They exploited his oddities and played up the differences between evangelical kids and "regular" kids. Levi seemed to know exactly what he was doing with his life, and displayed his impenetrable opinion intensely. I feel almost jealous about his purposefulness during the film. Yet I was left feeling like he wasn't really human.

 After watching this interview with Levi five years later, I am left to realize that he too has immature qualities. Although he doesn't want to be a preacher anymore, like he stated in the film, he still believes in doing whatever God leads him to. This shows that although Levi changed his mind throughout his life he did not change his viewpoints on religion. Most likely because he was not taught any other way to percieve religion and therefore was pigeonholed into an Evangelical mindset. He claims his parents did not force him onto the beliefs of an Evangelist. But, it is quite hard to choose any other way of thinking if you know nothing else.
The most interesting thing about Levi, was brought to my attention at the end of the film. That throughout all the extremist characters in the documentary; like Becky Fischer, The O'Brien parents, and the man who spoke about abortion, Levi seemed like the most level-headed and sane person of the group. Their is no question that he loves Jesus like the others do, and has some radical thoughts, but he is the person I most related with. I confirmed my association with him when he said he did like the Harry Potter movies and that they were "just good films." That gave him a more normal vibe, to me,  than Jesus Camp's "Levi."
Growing up in a Catholic and Jewish home, I was forced to make a lot of decisions to please certain parts of my family. I cannot fathom, however, being taught strictly by my family,and being homschooled like Levi did. And that is where we differ. I went to public school and was taught all ways of thinking and had a fair chance to choose my own opinion. That may have been the reason I was much more indecisive than Levi at his age, yet I came to my own understanding of religion, satisfied that it was my choosing. I don't believe Levi could say the same.

Also, I have posted a selection from Jesus Camp's score. I believe it catered to the eerie nature of the movie, and it exemplifies what the documentarians were trying to portray, which was an unsettling feeling in viewers.
Jesus Camp Music

Heart of Grizzly Man

When examining Timothy Treadwell's experiences in the Alaskan Katmai National Park and Preserve, I noticed his constant decent into madness.  Throughout his 13 summers in the Park he seemed to get increasingly obsessed with the bears and the idea that their enemy was society.  Whether it was Herzag's intention to progressivly make Treadwell seem more and more unhinged, or merely because of Timothy's lack of exposure to people, over time Treadwell lost a sense of human reality.  To me, it was almost reminiscent of Joseph Conrad's Novella, Heart of Darkness.  In the Novella, the setting- the river - acted as the vehicle for Kurtz and Marlow's transformation from an operating human in society to an animal, a beast.   Similarly, Treadwell's expeditions and loneliness seemed to drive him into extreme paranoia and slight psychosis over "intruders".  Intruders that is, any person who came into the park was  in Timothy's mind was there to harm the animals.  Not to say that some of the people actually were, but a majority, like the park service, were there to protect both the people and animals.  Inevitably, Treadwell deemed himself the "protector" of the bears, foxes and all the animals he loved so dearly.  This man, Treadwell, who used to teach children through his melodramatic and quirky mannerisms about his fascination with bears, undoubtedly, became crazed with the power and feeling of uncivilized living, exactly like Kurtz and Marlo's savageness towards the end of the river/book.  Although Treadwell did beleive in harmony, what confounded me was that he overlooked that in humans, like when he attacked the Airline employee in his journal saying "How much I hate the peoples world."  As if Timothy himself was no longer a human, or a civilized one at that.  But one thing is for certain, his installation of power over the bears was through respect, he would have done anything for those bears, even willingly give up his life.  He loved them.  Kurtz, on the other hand, ruled over his bestial natives by establishing fear alongside his power and murdered many of his people.  Therefore, Treadwell's decent into "madness" was based on a belief that all living things are innately good, differing from Kurtz's station that was barbarous and displayed an idea that everything was innately evil.