The Eyes of Tammy Faye Review

Oh dear. It has been a very long time since I wrote a review. This was supposed to be a topical review to tie in with the death of Tammy Faye Messner, who passed after to a long battle with cancer on July 20th. I was sad to hear Tammy Faye had died but I wasn't sure why I cared. Would I miss her camp appeal? Her appearances on The Surreal Life? I didn't know much about her ministry with Jim Bakker, but I knew she was at the centre of the controversy that painted televangelists as greedy and corrupt scam artists. Was Frank Zappa right? Did Jesus think Tammy Faye was a jerk? With so many vague impressions of Tammy Faye in my head, I figured the best idea was to rent the 2000 documentary "The Eyes of Tammy Faye".

The Eyes of Tammy Faye
(USA, Directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato)

Tammy Faye was many things to many people. Starting life as a country girl, she married Jim Bakker and worked incredibly hard to bring their brand of cheery Christianity to the masses. She rose to the heights of fame, influence and hero worship, then fell the great distance to laughing stock. She wore too much make up and talked in a falsetto voice. She was a distant mother who became addicted to pain killers. Eventually, she found redemption in a second marriage, the acceptance of her new fans, and a calculated return to the spotlight. Was Tammy Faye everything she appeared to be? Was it an act or was she, at the heart, who we saw on TV?

The Eyes of Tammy Faye premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000 to a widely enthusiastic response. At the time, the defunct position on Tammy Faye (and indeed most millionaire evangelists), was disgust and a desire for sweet, vengeful comeuppance. All of Tammy Faye's mascara coloured tears could not sway popular opinion that she deserved humiliation, yet many people changed their minds after seeing this film. The documentary presents Tammy Faye as a big hearted, emotional, and at worst naive woman. She is extravagant and self centred, but also honest in her desire to embrace everyone in true Christian fellowship. Specifically, filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato present Tammy Faye as a defender of the homosexual community. As a very early advocate for AIDS awareness, Tammy Faye embraced HIV positive patients when very few (inside or outside the evangelical world) would do so. Drag queen extrodinarre Rupaul narrates the film, emphasising the correlation the directors wanted to stress between Tammy Faye and her adoring, and now largely homosexual, fan base.

Tammy Faye herself appears unwaveringly strong in her convictions. She really does want you to know that God loves you. Her ability to look directly in the camera and simply emote is quite mesmerising. In older footage from her shows with Jim Bakker, Tammy Faye weeps and sings and praises the Lord for hours a day and you cannot help but be impressed with her showmanship. With the exception of some funny scenes where she's hepped up on painkillers and wandering off set, Tammy Faye gave her audience everything she had to give. Off set, and in the confines of her present day home, she presents the same larger than life persona. The voice, the clothes, the mascara - everything is the same. The directors are keen to push the camp value of their subject, whither its her collection of creepy (and omnipresent) dolls, to her expansive makeup bag. Tammy Faye as spectacle is completely entwined with Tammy Faye as person. If it was all an act I doubt even Tammy Faye could tell the difference anymore.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye is an example of a mass appeal documentary. The puppets that present different acts in Tammy Faye's life are clever but outstay their welcome. Repetition and heavy use of source footage also give the film a somewhat amateur effect. I found the sequence of Tammy Faye at the huge, and completely deserted, Heritage USA theme park to be some of the most effective scenes in the film. I had no idea the Bakkers had built, and lost, so much. It is positively eerie to see where pride and money can lead. I wished the film had spent more time here than on yet another scene of Tammy Faye's long red fingernails typing out a letter. Perhaps I cannot criticise the film for not following my personal interests, but it felt like The Eyes of Tammy Faye shunned higher discourse for campy thrills. Ultimately, the film proves to be as colourful, but about as deep, as Tammy Faye's makeup.
3.5 out of 5.

** You can check out photographs of Heritage USA past, present and possibly future at this site.