haphazard72 This was a good documentary and I think Louis and his crew should be commended for their efforts. It must've been hard to immerse himself in their lives and not feel angry. Would love to see and hear his thoughts and reactions at the end of each day of filming...As for the the family, it just scares me that they believe all this hate. This is a cult, it's not a church.I listen got their brainwashed messages and just shudder. But I shudder for the kids who clearly have no clue what they're saying or protesting about- that was obvious when they tried to explain their beliefs to Louis.Worth the watch, but be prepared to be a bit saddened, angry and dismayed- all rolled into one.

Sherry W. Louis Theroux decides to visit "America's Most Hated Family": the Phelps family. The members of the Phelps family started and are part of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Their central belief contains extreme ideologies, including that God hates America because of their acceptance of homosexuality and the military. They are known to protest with picket signs that are very bold and utterly deplorable. I found this documentary very hard to watch, for every word that came out of the Phelps family sent a chill down my spine. I was never aware that these kind of extremists are out there in this world. It's very ironic how this family believes that they are "obeying God's words", when actually they are doing and showing the opposite of Christian teachings. Whatever they said, they were taking Bible verses and twisting them from what they really mean. What I saw as most disturbing was that they would teach their next generation that God hates America, and that homosexuals are "fags". I simply have one question. Who are they to judge whether or not God hates America? As a Christian, I was very disturbed watching this documentary. The Phelps family says that God hates and condemns all people of America. However, in the Bible, it states 66 times that God loves his children. Yes, we have sinned and yes, we are not perfect, but it does not mean God hates us.I liked how Louis Theroux went outside his comfort zone to interview many of the people to make a more interesting documentary. However, it seemed as though he was serving into the people's mouths that what they were doing is wrong. I wished he went in with a little more empathy. Then, we could have gotten more information about their views, instead of them just defending themselves over and over. If you want to watch an eyebrow lifting documentary, I recommend this. However, if you do not want to see a disturbing documentary that will most likely want you to punch the screen, then this is not for you. Overall, I would give this documentary a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

bob the moo The Westborough Baptist Church believe that America is condemned by God because of its acceptance of homosexuality and rejection of His true teaching. The members of the church are overwhelmingly from one family – the Phelps family under the tutelage of Pastor Phelps – father or grandfather to many of the group. In an attempt to understand why they are so hated and try to get a grip on their beliefs, Louis Theroux spends several months with them at their home, talking to them as individuals and joining them on their pickets at the funerals of dead soldiers, whom they believe are dead because God is punishing the US.Louis Theroux has made a name for himself in seeking out the weird and the wonderful characters and scenes in the world and managing to get close to them, using his affable and harmless manner to often reach the heart of the people and let them show more than they intended. And so it is here with the Phelps family – a group that we start out seeing as a group of religious cracks but gradually become more and more upsetting as the film goes on. The film does a great job of exploring its subjects and Louis effortlessly brings a lot out of some of them.Of course it is not hard to get them to come over as hatemongers who have fixated on one sin and one teaching from the bible and are seemingly ignoring the rest (regardless of the defence that it is the "elephant in the room") and Louis just lets them preach at him. However he also nudges them to talk with mixed results. Pastor Phelps is a waste of five minute of film but the mother is interesting in her immobility in her position. Where he has much more success is with the children because they are quite normal people despite these views. He gets them talking and his style rewards the viewer by drawing out the slightest touches of doubt and a belief that seems to stem more from repetition and, dare I say, brainwashing than it does from a considered thought process and understanding. It disturbing to see because it is hard to escape the belief that the children genuinely have no chance. I suppose it is no different from those born into violent families, abusive families, overly protective families and so on – but it still doesn't make it easy viewing.Fans of Theroux will love it and the casual viewer will find that the subjects are difficult to fail to be engaged by. Enjoyable in the way Theroux's films usually are, but also upsetting and a touch disturbing too.

movieman_kev One thing I got out of this documentary about the small group of wrong-minded hateful cultish people of the Westboro Baptist Church. A group that constantly rails against Homosexuals, the military, and America in general, was not hatred of them, but a feeling of great sadness especially for the little children of the flock, who have absolutely no clue what it's all about yet, but are still indoctrinated enough that one can feel that none of them have a chance in life anymore. Documentarian Louis Theroux does a remarkable job staying semi-objective while still trying to open some of the groups eyes a little. Not seen in the film proper, but as an appendum on the BBC site, Theroux shares a story of how during a picketing of a milittary man's funeral, the members of this group, told the daughter of the man that just had died, that her father is now in hell. That is a very good barometer of how evil these people truly are.