Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping

Plot Summary

Americans, according to Reverend Billy, lead fake lives: we gobble up the mono-culture peddled by transnational conglomerates; we buy whatever stores sell us; and, consequently, we live consumerist fictions. We become, in his words, "tourists in our own lives." Dietmar Post's "Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping" focuses on Reverend Billy (NYC performance artist Bill Talens) and his devout group of disciples as they crusade against the synthetic and corruptive aspects of today's hyper-consumerist culture. Talens tirelessly labors to organize "actions" ranging from choir-singing protests to rooftop speeches that urge people to stop shopping and to realize the threat lurking beneath the veneer of commodification. Concerned with how transnational corporations "colonize" our mental-scapes and destroy local neighborhoods, the charismatic "preacher" thrives on staging infiltrations of the Disney Store or boycotts of Starbuck's, even if it means frequent run-ins with the NYPD. In the style of Direct Cinema, filmmakers Dietmar Post and Lucia Palacios expertly observe - without interruption - Reverend Billy in action and confrontation. As a result, the most rewarding aspect of "Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping" is its proficiency in accessing Talens' truly human side - his humor, self-deprecation, and intelligence - which in turn reveals what is genuinely empowering and inspiring about the man and his mission.