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Contributed by Sara Schieron
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Tuesday, 31 January 2006 |
FRISBEE: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A HIPPIE PREACHER recounts the work of
Lonnie Frisbee, the searching hippie turned hippie preacher who's
career in ministry is situated strategically at the beginning of the
expansion of two of America's largest Christian Churches: The Calvary
Chapel and the Vineyard Ministry. Though highly influential, the figure
of Lonnie Frisbee has been largely ignored and the film seeks to amend
this error by finding the reason for his alienation.
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After running away from home, Frisbee discovered LSD, and went to the desert where he had a vision of God in which he was granted a vocation. After finding his way to the Calvary Chapel, where he was ordained and drew crowds of thousands, opening doors to youth the otherwise conservative Christian climate found fit to call dirty and degenerate, his picture graced issues of Time and Life magazines, and the Hippie Preacher became the figurehead for the "Jesus Movement". His involvement in the Pentecostal Faith made him something of a living legend, enacting miracles and compelling the cynical to speak in tongues. After a number of career injuries, Frisbee confessed to engagement in homosexual activities, and what followed was a renunciation from the church and a subsequent revision of the biographies of the church leaders involved with him. No longer citing Frisbee by name, they transform him into something of a ghost, and following his death of AIDS in 1993, the director's inquiry into the sentiments of his compatriots was a trial in and of itself. Repeatedly Frisbee's friends and colleagues explain that he should be forgiven, that he was molested as a child and that his degeneracy was not his fault. During its conclusion, the "bible story" (as it's referred in the credits) identifies the problem of finding an authentic prophet when authenticity is not enough.
One gets the sense that this film was made in a church basement. The sound design is awkward; frequently cutting off interviewees mid word and the direction lacks purpose - long lapses into Ken Burns style photo montages that go in circles. The director, David Di Sabatino, is a young authority on the subject of the Jesus People, having written a book on them and publishing a number of articles on the group.
The fundamental "sin" of this film is not its extremely awkward treatment of the issue of homosexuality in the church; the problem is the film's attention to such a specific audience. This "church basement" feeling is not simply a reference to production value, this film seems to explicitly speak to those Christians either interested in the legacy of a possible prophet, interested in the history of their church, or speaks to people who, themselves struggle with the issues. This is not a terribly niche group but it's not a vast one either. And though the film is not inaccessible, it does make very clear the sentiments of his followers towards the life of a defamed leader who just didn't fit the mould.
FRISBEE: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A HIPPIE PREACHER screened at SF Indie Fest Tuesday February 8th at 2:15pm.
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