DVD OF THE WEEK

RELIGULOUS ****
Dir: Larry Charles
Starring: Bill Maher

Larry Charles is the guy who directed Borat; Bill Maher is an American comedian, writer and political commentator, but mainly a comedian. Together in this very funny documentary they take on the forces of religion in the world.
And, as I say, they have created a very funny film, which is both the strength and weakness of Religulous. It's not actually hard to find crazies on the fringes of the religious scene, especially if you start travelling through America's bible belt. Maher does this, and is – in general – admirably polite to them, be it the Australian millionaire who has built a Creationist theme park where model humans happily frolic alongside animatronic dinosaurs or the man who 'cures” homosexuals while denying that homosexuality actually exists.
But Christianity is not the only religion under the microscope. The Koran gets an examination, particularly the vexed issue of whether it does indeed espouse violence. Maher also takes a quick trip to the Holy Land (after visiting Florida's 'Holy Land Theme Park”), examining the layers of historical grievance and intransigence.
Where the film slightly fails is in integrating the more serious side of its message (that religion is a dangerous delusion). While it is alarming to see a US senator denying evolution, and instructive to realise that America's founding fathers were actively anti-Christian, this sits slightly uncomfortably with the funnier material and the closing 'serious message' feels out of place.
But for all that, this is a terrific film, both informative and, from time to time, side-splittingly absurd. It is at its best simply unveiling facts behind religion that those practicing it would rather forget, or not know. Listening to the story of Greek god Horus you can't help but conclude that a person's religious beliefs depend largely on where and when they happen to be born, and are little to do with higher powers or old Jewish fairy stories.

The long tail of Napoleon Dynamite continues to cast its influence, as is obvious from Adventures of Power (***), a rather sweet underdog story which takes place in the peculiar (and hopefully fictitious) world of air drumming. Yes, our titular geeky hero, Power, is an air drummer, spurned by his blue collar father and forced to seek his fortune in the big city. There he finds love and is taken in by a troop of fellow air drummers to train for the big championship. The generally barmy goings on are helped by a strong cast, including Michael McKean (Spinal Tap), Jane Lynch (Glee) and Adrian Grenier (Entourage). Entourage fans will be amused that the writer/director, who also plays Power, goes by the name of Ari Gold. No relation.

Accident (***) is a very slick Hong Kong film, imaginatively shot and no doubt awaiting a Hollywood retread. It centres round a troubled assassin, a man who, with a small team, sets up murders to look like elaborate accidents. His ingenious methods are no help when one of the team is accidentally killed and he begins to suspect that the accident has itself been set up by someone. Despite some weaknesses towards the end this is a striking and taut psychological thriller, good looking and engrossing.

The Weapons (***) in question are America's youth, here mostly street trash and unstable young men scarred by service in Iraq or Afghanistan. They live in a world of drugs and casual violence which this film does a good job of exploring, darting from one interlinked narrative to another and exposing a bleak subculture of general hopelessness. Actually that makes the film sound a lot less exciting than it is – the imaginative direction keeps you on your toes, though some of the more gimmicky shots possibly work against the overall mood of drab realism.