The Courier

“The word may take you to Europe!” was the promise made by one of these supposed prophets, who manage to fill whole stadiums with people lining up for mass ‘cures’, while claiming the ‘tithe’ that enables them to ride around in limousines and “get a taste of the good life created by the Gospel”. Others claim to exorcise “the spirit of poverty” and appeal for money before the crowds of people listening in a trance-like state. It just goes to show to what extent the politicians are under the power of these spiritual leaders. A vice-president and two presidential advisors can be seen using their presence to set the seal of approval on a gathering of these people who have no qualms about exploiting the Gospel for financial reward. Gilles Remiche also reveals the talents of these crowd-rousing prophets: the amazingly unrestrained promises to cure all manner of suffering, even over the telephone, or a laying on of hands before the camera of one of the 11 religious television channels winning over the masses like rock stars. More importantly, he shows how the phenomenon can become a scourge when one of these prophets promises that AIDS and cancers will “automatically disappear” once the evil spirit has been exorcised. Or another individual is heard to say, “AIDS is a disease just like malaria”. By contrast, the camera records the bitter disappointment of an HIV-positive woman when she discovers, during a medical visit, that the prophet has broken his promise.  Some of the prophets were not pleased. The production company reports that the director did receive some death threats. Presumably because the skilful editing may have sowed a healthy seed of scepticism about these practices in the minds of some of these people.

Available on DVD: www.passerelle.be
Associate producers: RTBF and the Cinema and Audiovisual Centre of the French-language Community of Belgium.