I don’t know about you, but this kind of docu-film is right up my alley. I love exploring the big questions. I will be getting myself a copy for sure.
About the film:
In every corner of the world, there’s one question that can never be definitively answered, yet stirs up equal parts passion, curiosity, self-reflection and often wild imagination: “What is God?” Filmmaker Peter Rodger explores this profound, age-old query in the provocative non-fiction feature Oh My God. This visual odyssey travels the globe with a revealing lens examining the idea of God through the minds and eyes of various religions and cultures, everyday people, spiritual leaders and celebrities. His goal: to give the viewer the personal, visceral experience of some kind of reasonable, meaningful definition of one of the most used—some might say overused—words in most every language.
Rodger’s quest takes him from the United States to Africa, from the Middle East to the Far East, where such fundamental issues as: “Did God create man or did man create God?”, “Is there one God for all religions?”, and “If God exists, why does He allow so much suffering?” are explored in candid discussions with the various Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and even atheists the filmmaker meets along the way.
“I was frustrated with the childish schoolyard mentality that permeates this world—I call it the ‘My God Is Greater Than Your God’ syndrome—where you have grown men flying airplanes into buildings shouting ‘God is Great’—where you have the leader of the free world telling the BBC in 2003 that he invaded Iraq because God told him to—where you have the constitution of a country (Iran) that dictates that its supreme leader is God’s representative on earth—where you have young men and women blowing themselves up (and innocent others) to buy a place into heaven. None of these concepts made any sense to me. Does it matter what I believe? Does it matter what you believe? And what is this entity that goes by the name of God, that seems to bring about so much friction, hurt and pain? So I decided to go around the world and ask people what they think.
“Over a three-year period I traveled across 23 countries asking children, religious leaders, celebrities, fanatics and the common Man what God means to them. Along the way I experienced an incredible array of faith expressions and had no small number of unforgettable adventures. The film is a result of this journey. It is not about religion per se; it is about what God means to people throughout our human family. I needed to explore and discover for myself whether religion and religious people were the cause of all the world’s woes. And, as a person who wrestles with faith, I needed to determine whether God created man or man created God.”
My favourite quote from what I’ve seen so far:
“If you put Buddha, Jesus Christ, Socrates, Shakespeare, Arjuna, and Krishna at a dinner table together, I can’t see them having any argument.” – Hugh Jackman
Now that I believe!
