MUBI

A film about the underbelly of a cruel capitalistic society in the form of four bible salesmen. Content wise, the perfect film for someone like me. The images of them drearily promoting their bibles and attending pathetic inspirational sales meetings does nothing but affirm my views on certain issues. Nevertheless, I did find myself uncomfortable with the direct cinema style of filmmaking: the camera was so natural that the film seemed like it was capturing reality directly, yet I felt constantly aware that the salesmen and their customers might have altered their reactions for the camera, which presence they were aware from, rendering this film rather problematic to me. Yet again, the Maysles brothers described this as a non-fiction feature film, so maybe that was the point, and some exaggeration would not hurt the film.

This film plays like a fiction. True characters, almost too human to be real. Were this not a documentary, I’d say this film were a metaphor, an allegory of man’s inability to escape the faith – put on a happy face and go to the grave trying like hell to go about the father’s business. The final scene cuts to the core. Brennan walks to the door but hesitates and lingers, unable to cross the threshold. Fear of what lies ahead of him? Despair at what got him there in the first place? Always pushing, until the bitter end.

I could never be a salesman.