"The Family" is a documentary exposee about a Christian group which emphasizes individual service AND connections to power. The focus of the show is on one individual, the guy who wrote the book on them. So why was I left so ambivalent about this? Two main reasons. First, the pace is glacially slow--like they are taking something which can be thoroughly discussed in 90 minutes and stretching it out to many hours. This is especially the case with recreations of events....with too much emphasis on the re-creations and less on actually dispensing information to the viewer. Second, how this group is potentially dangerous is only alluded to slowly....very, very slowly. The bottom line is that I would love to see a different documentary on the same topic--one that is concise and sharper in focus.
Review of The Family
