The Eyes of Tammy Faye

The Eyes of Tammy Faye
by Randy Barbato, Fenton Bailey

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DVD Reviews of The Eyes of Tammy Faye

DVD Review: An Empathic Look At Tammy Faye
Summary: 5 Stars

"The Eyes of Tammy Faye" delivers a well documented history of Jim and Tammy Faye's rise to fame on the TV Evangelist circuit, their fall from grace, and where the dice landed for Tammy Faye. If this were a film exclusively about the PTL scandal, this docu would come up short; but the main focus here is on Tammy Faye the individual. In doing so, the film makers did an excellent job of presenting the most important aspects of the scandal in a nutshell, and giving us a three-dimensional view of Tammy Faye.

Early on, this documentary shows a genuinely sweet side of Tammy Faye, telling of her unhappy childhood, and how the religion she grew up with was just one big monolithic intimidator, threatening the believers with eternal damnation. Instead of Tammy Faye taking this fear into adulthood, she instead turns it upside down, and preaches Christianity to the TV public with compassion. Particularly moving is a clip from a PTL Club episode where she has an AIDS activist on the show; wherein you would often see TV preachers brag that they will cure AIDS victims of their lifestyle and illness, Tammy Faye brings the activist on the show with compassion. They discuss the battle against AIDS, never bagging on the gay lifestyle.

Another reason to check out this documentary is to catch the disturbing info on Jerry Falwell taking command of The PTL Network. Dislike Falwell and his Moral Majority? You will despise both after seeing this account of his betrayal.

Much of the film is presented with snipets of old Praise The Lord Television footage, narration by Ru Paul, lots of funky hand puppets (an explanation for that comes early on in the film) and through the lips of Tammy Faye herself. While the documentary is sympathetic to Tammy Faye, she shows through her own words that she is still in denial about the misappropriation of funds husband Jim tolled. Tammy Faye is eccentric, strong, unethical and sweet, all rolled up into one. All in all, I went away with a soft spot for Tammy Faye, something I have never before had for a TV evangelist. Whether you come to a similar conclusion or not, I think you will find this an excellent piece of work.

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