The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021 US) This biopic of disgraced televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker stars Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield. Its funny that you get and idea about a person based on what the media shows you. Bakker was the butt of late night comedians with her over the top make-up and goofy presentation. What I did not know is that she was a solid gay ally. During the AIDS crisis Bakker interviewed a gay man suffering from AIDS on live TV. She encouraged her very religious following to show compassion to the gay community. She was heavily criticized but kept going and became a gay icon. You can dispute some of the facts but grateful members of the gay community made a documentary about her showing her commitment to them. It was narrated by Ru Paul. Its says a lot that the people that made the doc went to a great deal of effort to tell their story and how they felt about her. I haven't seen the doc but this film was based on it. I feel like I didn't actually know her and kinda feel a bit guilty about laughing at the jokes. Now to the film. The criticism was that "it wasn't as good as the doc". Well I didn't see it but I loved this. Jessica Chastain was so convincing as Tammy Faye that I paused the film to double check that was Chastain. Yup, it was her. Damn ! Damn! That's some serious talent. She won an Oscar for Best Actress and well she should. When looking for photos for this blog I had a hard time telling apart Chastain and Bakker. I had to double check in the text. Chastain wasn't just the woman but she had her presence too. You could not look away from her performance. Poor Garfield who did a great job as Jim Bakker didn't stand a chance. Find it on Hulu or for rent on most streaming.
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