Thursday, November 22, 2007

"What Would Jesus Buy?" See the light tomorrow night!

Sitting there in a tryptophan haze this Thanksgiving, and contemplating the money you're going to shell out tomorrow (also known as Black Friday)?

Then you need to join Portland Screening Liberally tomorrow (Friday) night at 7pm at Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Street (map) to see "What Would Jesus Buy?"

From the WWJB web site:
What Would Jesus Buy? follows Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir as they go on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse: the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt!

From producer Morgan Spurlock (SUPER SIZE ME) and director Rob VanAlkemade comes a serious docu-comedy about the commercialization of Christmas. Bill Talen (aka Reverend Billy) was a lost idealist who hitchhiked to New York City only to find that Times Square was becoming a mall. Spurred on by the loss of his neighborhood and inspired by the sidewalk preachers around him, Bill bought a collar to match his white caterer's jacket, bleached his hair and became the Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. Since 1999, Reverend Billy has gone from being a lone preacher with a portable pulpit preaching on subways, to the leader of a congregation and a movement whose numbers are well into the thousands.

Through retail interventions, corporate exorcisms, and some good old-fashioned preaching, Reverend Billy reminds us that we have lost the true meaning of Christmas. What Would Jesus Buy? is a journey into the heart of America – from exorcising the demons at the Wal-Mart headquarters to taking over the center stage at the Mall of America and then ultimately heading to the Promised Land … Disneyland.

Will we be led like Sheeple to the Christmas slaughter, or will we find a new way to give a gift this Christmas? What Would Jesus Buy? may just be the divine intervention we've all been searching for.

As a special treat, producer Morgan "Supersize Me" Spurlock will speak at both showings tomorrow night.

Check out the trailer . . .



. . . and join us at Cinema 21 tomorrow night at 7pm for "What Would Jesus Buy?" We'll meet in the lobby a little before seven, and afterward those who are interested can migrate to a nearby café or pub to continue discussing the film.

See you then. Hallelujah!

(Cross-posted at Loaded Orygun.)

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