Screen Scene: Oh My God

Friedrich Nietzsche was a smart guy, but he was wrong about at least one thing: God is definitely not dead. At the very least, the ideas of God, the arguments over God and the documentaries about God are still very much alive.

Last year, political comedian Bill Maher released “Religulous,” a witty yet irritating documentary about his global search for religious people he could ridicule. Peter Rodger’s “Oh My God” is similar, in that it follows its narrator around the world as he converses with the faithful. It’s not similar in that Rodger is all irritating and no wit.

“Oh My God” is essentially a visual census of contemporary religious perspectives ““ certainly not all of them, but the big Abrahamic three are represented, as well as Hinduism, Buddhism and the beliefs of a handful of indigenous tribes. Rodger traveled about with two crew members and one question ““ “What is God?” ““ and he came back with a rather bland documentary.

Rodger has said that he took on this project because he was tired of the way religions compete with one another, but all he really gives us is a series of sound bites from a diverse group of people he chose seemingly at random. At this point, most people are pretty well aware that there’s an enormous variety of religions in the world, and “Oh My God” never digs much deeper than that.

It helps to know that Rodger made his name with print ads and commercials ““ he’s good at capturing compelling images, not so good at weaving together a narrative. You’ll see some stunning shots of the Himalayas, of Australian Aborigines and of the Maasai in East Africa, but you’ll also hear a lot of people adding nothing new to the God discussion, and the globe-trotting structure of the film is such that “Oh My God” never seems to have any point or direction.

Maybe Rodger realized that his interviews lacked depth. That would explain why the sound track, composed by Alexander van Bubenheim, sounds ominous enough to play at Armageddon. This makes for a confusing barrage of the senses ““ the gorgeous scenery and the shallow philosophizing never warrant music this spooky.

To make matters worse, Rodger felt the need to include interviews with a few celebrities, none of whom really justify their appearance. Sir Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats makes a smart case for nonbelievers, but Ringo Starr just smiles and insists that “God is love.” David Copperfield tells an intriguing anecdote about a man who demanded a cure for his son’s headaches, but then Copperfield announces that, despite his career as an illusionist, he believes in God. It would be nice if he’d tell us why, but he doesn’t.

And what exactly is Hugh Jackman doing here? Rodger crossed paths with the filming of Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia,” and apparently decided that in addition to interviewing an actual Aborigine, it would also be a good idea to ask Luhrmann and Jackman what they had to say. I don’t know how many people look to Wolverine for spiritual guidance, but they probably shouldn’t.

All of this is a shame, really, because there are a lot of interesting things to say about God. That might be the problem, actually. If Rodger had honed in on just one theme ““ whether all religions are worshipping the same god, for instance, or the healing power of faith ““ he might have been able to uncover something thought-provoking.

Instead, he’s fighting an uphill battle, because it’s hard to advance a conversation that’s been going on for as long as this one has, and Rodger doesn’t fight nearly hard enough. “Oh My God” is a jumping-off point, a fine documentary to show on the first day of an introduction to world religions class. This is a rich subject matter; if we’re going to talk about a higher power, we should demand higher standards.

““ Alex Goodman

E-mail Goodman at [email protected].