God's Architects
Documentary
Academic Complex
23 March 2010
This film seeks to explore five men who all proclaim to be divinely inspired, by God, to construct unique creations in different areas around the U.S. These men do not get paid for their work; rather, they do it for reasons that are very personal. This is the most engaging aspect of the film: none of these men have a greedy or financial motive. As the film chronicles these men and their work we begin to see how and why they made the decision to attempt such an unconventional task. The stories become interwoven, revealing both parallels amongst the creators as well as a clear understanding of who these people are.
Visually speaking, this film has some pretty incredible shots of not only their creations (which are bizarre, but fascinating to view), but the areas and locations surrounding their constructions. For instance, Leonard Knight (one of the architects) lives in the middle of a desert in California and is working on painting a mountain titled "God is Love". The enormous structure, which is made up of hundreds of different colors and God knows how many buckets of paint, is in the midst of nothing but dirt and sand. Yet, there is something beautiful about the extreme contrast in color. This is just one example, but throughout the entire film we constantly see contrast of these man-made structures with beautiful shots of nature. Similarly, the music choice further enhances the visual aspect of the film by blending violin/piano pieces with some vocal-choir/church music. This is highly appropriate due to the faith driven aspect of the film. Another aspect that drove the film was the editing style. Instead of showing each architect and their story in sequential order, one following the next, Godshall decided to interweave the stories, cutting back and forth from one architect to the next. Not only did this make the film more interesting and intriguing, but it also reveals the skill and patience that went into completing this task successfully.
Although I really enjoyed the film, one problem I had relates to the tone and mood. At times I felt confused on how I was supposed to feel after viewing a particular scene. As a result, I found my self laughing at moments that may not have been intended to be comical. The film presented itself as a drama, but some characters were so absurd and off-the-wall that I didn't know whether to laugh, sympathize, or simply, be entertained. However, despite this personal flaw, I believe the film successfully accomplished its goal: to depict a range of men whose creativeness was motivated by faith, whether resulting from loss of a loved one, keeping a promise, or divine intervention.