The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's 2000 documentary is about the televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. With her husband she built a large religious broadcasting network; the network collapsed in a financial scandal and her husband went to prison. What is interesting is her position after the scandal. Religious circles excluded her; against that, she was among the few religious figures in the eighties who spoke openly with people with AIDS, and that won her a different audience. Bailey and Barbato do not make her a figure of fun; they show how she was caricatured by the media. RuPaul narrates, and that choice also states the film's point of view. The archive material is extensive. Who it's for: those interested in American media history and the relationship between religion and television. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a detailed analysis of the financial scandal; the film passes over it briefly.