Benardin Presentation

Yesterday, I went to see a presentation on the USC campus lead by Martin Doblmeier, who was talking about his documentary, Benardin, that was originally screened in 1998, which was going to be featured that night on the South Carolina ETV channel.  The intent of the presentation was to discuss religious topics, along with ethical and moral dimensions. He had clearly completed a course on religious studies, for he seemed very smart, and knew information to a great extent on the topic.  He discussed some good points on his religious belief system, along with some movie-making strategies.  He told why he wanted to write religious films, how a movie was filmed "behind the scenes," and told the story of Gandhi, when he tried to overthrow and kill Adolf Hitler, which I found slightly off topic, yet very interesting.  I did not really know about Gandhi; I had heard the name before, but the way Doblmeier told the story made me understand what he was trying to do, and why he was so well known and important.  However, Doblmeier did not seem to hit all the expected points to have a well thought out opinion on his religious views.  He had clearly not prepared for his lecture prior to the presentation.  He focused a great deal on the USC religious studies students, and that made the lecture confusing, because he went off on topics that the Hammond students did not know about.  When someone asked him a question, it was answered  indirectly.  He seemed like a very intelligent man, who knew what he was talking about in the religion department.  He was definitely a successful filmmaker, and his presentation made me more interested in the filmmaking industry.  I look forward to hearing about more of his films in the future.