Day three of the excellent Doc/Fest. I had already seen several interesting films since arriving in Sheffield. Indeed I had already seen several interesting films that day. I walked into the Showroom cinema and pulled out my ticket for God loves Uganda, a film that had premiered at Sundance.
Screen 8, it said in the top corner.
That was odd – I thought there were only four screens. All the other films I’d seen had been on screens one, two, or three. I approached an usher to ask for directions to screen 8, when I noticed something else unexpected on the ticket. Just before the 8 was a disturbing word.
ODEON.
I was definitely in the Showroom Cinema. You could tell because it said Showroom Cinema in big letters on the front of the building.
Whoops.
Instead of asking for directions to screen 8 I asked for directions to the Odeon. That surprised the usher. Instead of being told down there on the left, I had to cross a road, go up a hill, turn right… Getting there by the start of the film was in question. Luckily a film called God loves Uganda would probably only have three people watching it and I could easily sneak in if I was late.
Or so I thought.
Breaking into the jog-walk hybrid of the man who is late but dislikes running I made it to the Odeon before the film began and sped past a long stand-by queue. I wondered what popular film everyone was waiting for, showed my ticket at screen 8 and walked into the auditorium. It wasn’t the biggest of screening rooms, but I hadn’t been expecting a packed house for a film called God loves Uganda.
What I had expected was the lights to dim and a film to start. Instead an Amnesty spokesman started speaking about a bill that is going through the Ugandan Parliament. It aims to make homosexuality illegal and he quoted a government minister who had said that ‘homosexuals can forget about human rights.’ Unsurprisingly he was against it. To be honest you’d be hard pushed to find anyone who’d vote for it, but this film managed to find them. It turned out to be the focus of the piece.
Director Roger Ross Williams comes from a religious family, describing church as their ‘family business.’ God loves Uganda sounds like it focuses on religion in Uganda, but in fact the focus is narrower than that. Of course it is about religion in Uganda – if you say to someone have you seen that film about religion in Uganda they are going to think you mean this, not Breakfast at Tiffany’s – but it is a documentary about the anti-homosexuality bill that is making its way through the Ugandan Parliament, the effect of this on Ugandan individuals and society and the influence that certain churches in the USA may have had.
This is a film that is all about its subject matter. The framing and filming is generally unobtrusive, although the deliberate use of zoom to change perspective and bring other people or objects into shot does draw attention to itself. The director doesn’t want to make a pretty picture, he wants to change the world.
When he first went to Uganda the director met activist David Kato. Ross Williams reported that Kato had urged him to make a film about what ‘American evangelists were doing in his country’, which fitted with the film he wanted to make anyway. The director managed to gain the trust of fundamentalist evangelical Christians in the Ihop church in Kansas City. They allowed him to interview their pastor Lou Engle and film their activities in the USA and Uganda. Uganda is known as the Pearl of Africa and they feel led to send missionaries to the country. The director was asked how he had found the people to interview in Uganda. ‘Uganda is the number one destination for American missionaries,’ he said. ‘It’s not hard to find them. They’re everywhere.’
The film explains how the Bush administration promoted abstinence rather than condoms as a solution to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda. In order to get millions of dollars in aid from the USA Uganda had to follow this path, which is predicated more on wishful thinking than an understanding of humanity. As the film shows, some pastors who have preached this message have become extremely rich thanks to American money.
This is not the church-condemning film that it might appear to be from its title. Ross Williams’ direction shows that he is not against Christianity per se, but rather that he is trying to draw attention to the influence that certain American churches have in Uganda. Importantly, the two main voices in the film speaking against the bill are both ordained priests. Bishop Christopher Senyongo led the Anglican Church of Uganda for decades. He was forced out of his position as he preached a gospel of love, refusing to say that God didn’t love gay men and women. Kapya Kaoma is a moderate priest from Uganda now having to live in the USA as his similar stance has made Uganda too dangerous for him and his family. He had heard American priests come to Uganda and blame Nazi Germany on The Gays. Ross Williams said that this use of Christians on both sides of the argument was deliberate as he wanted the discussion that his film would provoke to take place within the faith community.
Ross Williams shows that not all evangelicals are pro-anti-homosexuality, if that makes sense. A young American couple ministering in Uganda made it clear that they knew nothing about the anti-homosexuality bill and had had no influence on it. They did not believe that homosexuality was the best way to live but they appeared to be condemning no one. The director also recognises that the bill is used in Uganda to focus attention away from other issues. ‘The bill is back on the table because of the scandal surrounding the oil reserves,’ he has said. ‘And they have successfully distracted everyone.’
Producer Julie Goldman said that having seen the film the reaction from the evangelicals featured has been surprisingly open-minded. They have said that they ‘hadn’t realised that their efforts could be seen in that light’ and they are going to look at the way that they spread their message. It is early days, but the transformative power of film is being demonstrated. Many of the Christians drawn to Uganda are honourable, trying to help and are doing useful work with very poor communities. This film may not win Oscars and Baftas, but if it can help eradicate the anti-gay violence that is being extolled by some in Uganda then it will have been a success.
That’s sort of taken for granted in all the churches I’ve been to. Vicars rarely preach the message, Remember, try not to kill people. Anyone who has read the gospels knows that if there is one word that sums up the teaching of Jesus it is love. You can play semantics and redefine words as much as you want, but handing out death penalties for sexual orientation is never going to come under the heading loving. Let him without sin, etc, etc. I might be a chap who can turn up for a film at the wrong cinema, but it seems clear to me that the message of Jesus was never imprison your neighbour and kill them if you feel like it. I’ve always come out of church thinking Love your neighbour as yourself was more the general theme.
Visit the website for God Loves Uganda
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