Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux Documentary

I have recently watched the most hated family in America, documented by Louis Theroux. Louis Theroux is an interactive documentary filmmaker because he interacts with the main subjects in the film whilst he is also in the film and one of the small crewmembers is holding a handheld camera. He also does the voiceover for the film. The main subjects in the documentary are obviously, Louis Theroux because he is the filmmaker. Also there is Steve Drain who used to be in Louis Theroux shoes, and went over to interview 'the most hated family' but ended up joining them. Gramps is also a very important person in the documentary, because he is the leader of the 'most hated family'. He is the one man who they all listen to and he also made the documentary for me, just seeing how stubborn he is.

The Family is a very religious family, and has strong beliefs. They believe that this life we are in now is a test, and if you fail the test God will come back and send you to hell. One of the girls mentioned, "if I got hit by a car and died, I will have failed the test and I would go to hell". They also have strong beliefs about gay people as well, they feel that being gay is disgraceful and if you are gay, you will go to hell that is why they hold up signs protesting against being gay. They also protest against soldiers as well and go to their funerals and protest because as men surround them all the time, they believe that some of the soldiers must be gay. Some people think that they are not actually like this, and think they are just doing it for attention, but personally I think they are actually this self-centered, this stubborn and does not care about the people around them.

The crew that Louis Theroux bought with him is a small crew of about 2 to 4 people. The reason why the crew is so small is because the makers want to make it as pure and realistic as they can by adding just a handheld camera to follow the family instead of having loads of equipment. You can tell there are just a few crewmembers because they go to speak to some of the family members in rooms that can only fit a few people in.

In this documentary, Theroux uses some codes and conventions to show the audience that the footage we see in the documentary is real. Nothing really has been edited such as sounds and lighting but the documentary does only show the bad things and how horrible the family is. I think nobody can be that obstinate all the time, so I do think that the filmmakers do cut some good bits out, and Theroux did say after meeting them, "they are quite kind". Theroux does all the voiceovers to illustrate what is happening, where he is going and talks about the family. I don't think Theroux pushes the boundaries in anyway, but Gramps would probably disagree with that because Theroux was asking him questions, about some of his children that left the religion, that he already knew.

As Louis Theroux is pretty much on screen the whole time, he also performs the interviews on screen as well. He tries to seek out the facts to see what is going through the family's mind, he asks them basic questions but he only gets blunt questions back, such as, "you're going to hell", because the family has only got there minds set on one thing. And it is to pass the test of life. That is how strong headed they are.

Theroux wanted to know why the most hated family are doing what they are doing and what is causing them to do it. He wants the audience to feel all kind of emotions, I felt shocked when I was watching it, especially when he was interviewing Gramps, he shouted "you're going to eat you're babies", it is not right! Theroux wanted to see what it was like to be a part of the family. I seriously do not know how anyone can live like that and I can totally understand why four of his children dropped out of the religion, and I feel sorry for those little children who has to participate in holding up the signs, and they don't even know what it means, to be honest I think they are just dumb. I watched another interview on the Tyra Banks show with Shirley Phelps, and Shirley said "I love gay people more than anyone in this room, I love them enough to tell them that you're going to hell". I can understand why they are called 'The Most Hated Family In America'.

I would describe this documentary as very interesting but so frustrating; because I just cant get my head around why they are doing it. It was also educational but very revealing to see how stubborn the whole family is. I just think it is wrong.