God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty

Giancarlo Granda was working as a pool attendant at a hotel in Miami; he was twenty one. A couple he met there took an interest in him. The woman was Becki Falwell, and her husband was Jerry Falwell Jr, head of one of the largest religious universities in America. A relationship formed between them that lasted years. In the same period Falwell was among the figures who set the political direction of conservative voters in the country. Billy Corben directs. The documentary was released in 2022. Its main source is Granda himself; he tells the events from beginning to end on camera and shares the records he has. The second subject is the university. The institution Falwell ran applied a strict code of conduct to its students: rules about alcohol, relationships and dress, with punishments for breaking them. The documentary takes the difference between enforcing those rules and the life of the management directly as its subject. The narrative also gives the business side: an investment run jointly with Granda and the money between them. After the scandal emerged Falwell left his post. That the documentary rests on a single source was criticised; the other side does not appear on camera. Who it is for: anyone interested in the relation between religion and politics in America and viewers of scandal documentary. Who it is not for: it is one sided, the tone is mocking, and the political frame weakens as the matter becomes personal.