Maybe there’s a way to make a really compelling, urgent documentary in which ordinary citizens and celebrities around the globe are canvassed about an important topic. Offhand, I don’t know how. But Peter Rodger’s “Oh My God?” is not the way to do it.
On the other hand, perhaps you crave to know what actor Hugh Jackman, pop star Seal and some lady behind a gun-shop counter in Texas think about the existence of God.
Strangely enough, I do not crave this, so I’m the wrong audience for “Oh My God?”
First-time filmmaker Rodger, an Australian, set about to find some answers to free-floating questions about why people who believe in supernatural ideas tend to group themselves into different tribes which, throughout history, have displayed a tendency to kill each other over their disagreements about their deities.
All right, a worthwhile question. But when the first talking head in the film is Hugh Jackman, you might begin to doubt Rodger’s priorities.
This is an indication that, no matter the interview subject — priest, imam, rabbi or Ringo Starr — the ultimate conclusion of an exercise like this will probably be the filmmaker’s voiceover announcing that none of us really knows the truth, and that we’re all brothers anyway. Ringo gets a free pass because he’s Ringo, and is thus above criticism. But Rodger is going to have to answer for 90 minutes of very questionable material here.
For more, read here.