Diagonaldi Very well executed

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

abark The director would have done well to hire an outside editor.The poor editing takes away from the film.For example, while showing an interview with a woman who is talking about her husband who was a soldier. Text is shown explaining that he had been killed in Iraq when he was 22. The next shot is the woman saying 'I was so excited!' The editing during the interviews with two of Phelps' estranged children was also fairly tedious and kind of annoying. Other than that it's a fairly entertaining doc.

EXodus25X I have never experience such a range of emotions while watching a film, from anger and rage to down right disappointment and sadness. Something has gone terribly wrong in the mind of the Phelps family. They are the reason that Christians around the world are stereotyped into these kind of hate mongers. I am dumb founded by these people, in the ultimate act of love and sacrifice their God sent his only son to die for their and all of our sins. Sins that in Gods mind are all equally horrible yet Jesus at no time held up signs or preached that God hated anyone be it any kind of sinner. So from such an act of love these people have choose to express nothing but hate. I simply don't understand, I am so imperfect that to damn anyone for there sins would make me feel like the worlds biggest hypocrite, the only one qualified for that is God. A pastor in this film I thought said it best when he said he preaches what Jesus preached and chooses to stay silent on the issues Jesus chose to stay silent on. I would assume that if God felt that homo-sexuality was this huge issue then his son would have made a more clear stance in the Bible so it would not be open to interpretation by individuals. Personally I have my beliefs and I stand strongly behind them but I do not force those beliefs onto anyone else and my goal isn't to force anyone to believe what I believe but for the LOVE of Jesus to shine through me, the LOVE. That's what it's all about, that's the very cornerstone of Christianity, how do you loose that? So to the Phelps family I don't have words of anger or hate for you even though I disagree so completely with what you do, to the Phelps I have just one question, where is the love?

lastliberal I cannot imagine anyone concerned with civil rights that is not aware of the Phelps family and Westboro Baptist Church, yet they did not hit my radar until they had been protesting for a few years. It was their appearance at the Matthew Shepard funeral that brought them to my attention. Their protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers in Iraq brought them to the attention of most Americans.My generation is used to hate-mongers. We have had Hitler and Stalin. We have preachers like Robertson, Dobson, Fallwell and others, but no one is above Fred Phelps in his pure hatred of anyone who does not agree with him. It is hard to understand what motivates such people. My personal feeling is that they were probably not breastfed. Just a theory, but it is probably as good as any.K. Ryan Jones put together enough footage to give us some insight into what drives Phelps, but he cannot know the complete picture. The anger inside this man in put forth by his own words, the words of his children and grandchildren, and the fact that he has managed to alienate all who come into contact with him to the point that he was disbarred and had to turn to hating gays, lesbians, and trans-gendered, or "fags" as he calls them to have an outlet for his anger.You hear from his own children who have escaped the physical abuse they endured growing up, and you see the new generation of grandchildren who are indoctrinated to hate without understanding what it is that they hate. His children are like Nike, they tell their children to "Just do it." Anyone who is interested in civil rights, and combating hatred in American should check this film out. It is currently getting wide play on Showtime.

JustCuriosity This film has its world premiere as Austin's SXSW Film Festival. It would have been very easy for first-time filmmaker Ryan Jones to make a one-sided polemic about hate-mongering Rev. Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS. Phelps despicable "God hates fags" theology and their protests especially at military funerals are clearly beyond the pale.However Jones opted to try to dig deeper. Much of the film allows Phelps and the member of his extended family (which makes up most of his "church") to speak for themselves. While the film provides plenty of space to Phelp's critics, it also allows Phelps and his family to hang themselves with their close-minded bigoted rhetoric. The interviews with two of Phelps' children who have left his church are particularly revealing. Most of all, the film shows that what they preach is anything, but the true spirit of Christian charity and generosity. The film shows that this is an ideology of hate disguised as Christianity. The film also explores some themes such as the extent of free speech which have long been associated with the famous Neo-Nazi march in Skokie.This film deserves to be seen by a wider audience so that people can see the true face of intolerance and the dangerous power of a charismatic leader to cause great pain and suffering. I suspect Jesus would cry at what Phelps is doing in his name. Jones should be commended for this powerful piece of film-making.