This documentary would have been an easy 9 or 9.5 with just concentrating on the story. However, even though I agree with the politics of the story outside of the Falwells, at times it is too heavy handed and not exactly related to the story. In addition, somebody forgot to edit the loud music that makes it hard to understand what is being said towards the end of the movie for many minutes.. What the heck happened to the editors?
The story itself is extremely well done. Giancarlo Granda comes across well, controlled, and very sincere for the most part. His sister helps to give us some background about who her brother is and how this ordeal affected him, which is important. You see the power of this middle aged woman on a horny 20 year old, as Granda himself confesses. You see what appears to be an obsession with him. He had been a quiet teenager, and now he was getting all this attention. Soon he was being brought into a real estate deal, and becoming more sexual with Becki Falwell as time went on. Jerry himself would watch or have sex with his wife after Giancarlo. A soap opera couldn't have done it better than this real one.
Things fall apart when the real estate deal goes bad, and then Granda starts feeling used, and when he tries to break away, he sees what hold the Falwells have on him. He also sees the hypocrisy of the strict rules that students must follow at Liberty U, and yet the President and his wife are having orgies with no penalty. We see Falwell endorsing Trump, with reasons that may have to do with what was known about the Falwell's affair.....
This is a story well told, teaching us about the dangers of mixing hypocritical religion, power, deception, and sex.
The story itself is extremely well done. Giancarlo Granda comes across well, controlled, and very sincere for the most part. His sister helps to give us some background about who her brother is and how this ordeal affected him, which is important. You see the power of this middle aged woman on a horny 20 year old, as Granda himself confesses. You see what appears to be an obsession with him. He had been a quiet teenager, and now he was getting all this attention. Soon he was being brought into a real estate deal, and becoming more sexual with Becki Falwell as time went on. Jerry himself would watch or have sex with his wife after Giancarlo. A soap opera couldn't have done it better than this real one.
Things fall apart when the real estate deal goes bad, and then Granda starts feeling used, and when he tries to break away, he sees what hold the Falwells have on him. He also sees the hypocrisy of the strict rules that students must follow at Liberty U, and yet the President and his wife are having orgies with no penalty. We see Falwell endorsing Trump, with reasons that may have to do with what was known about the Falwell's affair.....
This is a story well told, teaching us about the dangers of mixing hypocritical religion, power, deception, and sex.