The phrase, “and the truth shall set you free,” is a fairly popular phrase that originated from the Bible. I know it’s in the New Testament, but I’m not sure which part. I remember in Catholic school when we studied certain passages, this was one that pertained to the idea of spiritual freedom. Some have used it, a lot of universities, as a way to summarize the idea that the thirst for knowledge will you set you free, unless of course you’d like to argue that spiritual freedom is true knowledge. Now going solely off memory, that snippet, within the entire passage, means that we will no longer be slaves to sin as long as we see the truth. And of course, believe in God.
That takes a lot of chutzpah. The idea of simply giving yourself over to a truth that you can’t see, that you can’t necessarily prove, and something that you’ll either be scrutinized or questioned for your whole. It’s the basis of faith, simply putting faith and whole heartedly believing in something. You believe that God will handle it as long as you let Him. There’s obviously people who take this scripture and are subjected to it at a young age to where they believe it regardless because of their upbringing. There’s also the people who’ve studied it for ages and truly believe in.
So why do I bring up the ideas of blind faith and the power of God? Because BELIEVE ME’s premise hinges on the belief that there’s enough imperceptive people who will give away thousands of their hard earned dollars to four college frat boys faking faith on stage for an even more hokey charity concept. These four jocks have created “Project Gets Well Soon”. Their shtick is that they believe that Christians, who show up to campus religious meetings, will gladly donate their money in the name of Christ. So, with some outlandish revivalist preaching and the promise of donating money to improve water conditions in Africa, the money starts rolling in and soon they’re recognized by a touring evangelical organization that raises money for various Christian charities. At no point is there anyone with Internet access or a smartphone to quickly debunk this scam.
Could you truly put your faith and belief in four guys you don’t know, simply showboating on stage to raise money for a cause without photos, a website, or a sufficient channel of social media outlets that a young group would men would most likely have to create to substantiate such an elaborate lie? No. All they have is some borderline offensive stereotypes of Christians, a black guy who plays beats, and the marketing analysis of the men who created New Coke, to supposedly be welcomed in open arms by an army of astute youths across the country.
Better yet. As a movie watcher, could you believe this plot? Me neither. BELIEVE ME is an absolute mess. It feels like it wants to be a slam against the dogma of Christianity, but it isn’t. It just feels insulting to the intelligence of religious people and at no point are we ever offered the tiniest shred of evidence that these four could pull off a nationwide tour of embezzling money simply by lying on stage to thousands of people they don’t theologically agree with.
Empirical evidence would suggest this wants to be a comedy, but at no point did I smile, smirk, or snigger. The last half of the movie would like to convince you there’s some kind of dramatic weight that should be felt from these four eventually feeling guilt. There are actors in this, but they don’t ever look like they’re trying. There’s a writer and director behind this, but once again, it doesn’t feel like any creativity went into this. BELIEVE ME is a blasphemous piece of cinema. But if you’ve read this far I do have some good news for you. For in the dark I have found some light. Just by reading this, I have set you free from ever having to worry about watching this insulting trash.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: (1080p Widescreen 2:39:1) The picture comes through clearly, but for some reason, everything feels really dark as if this movie was consistently filmed at night or in a room that was poorly lit.
Audio: (English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1) The audio mixing was well done, but for some reason, I had to crank up the volume just to hear anything.
Deleted Scenes (6:59): It’s a good thing they cut these scenes out, it would have made these four even less believable than they already were. One scene features them hazing pledges and another highlight shows them being hungover.
Outtakes (4:00): Just what’d you expect from outtakes. Forgotten lines and blown moments.
Trailers
