I didn't expect a biopic of Tammy Faye Bakker, powerhouse Charismatic Christian woman who was the subject of caricatures and comedy of the 1970s and 80s, to be so entertaining--much less so illuminating. Her addiction to garish makeup and tacky-expensive clothes made her a difficult human being to take seriously, but somehow this new movie, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, manages to do that--and engage the audience with sympathy, empathy, and, of course a trace of outrage.
We learn, first off, of humble origins, but that was no surprise. As a child, this Tammy Faye (played by Jessica Chastain, who has never been better) was trapped in a poor family, but more importantly, a religious one. Her mother looked on her as a source of shame, since she was a child of divorce and the hardshell religion had expelled her from services until she was needed as a pianist. The cold mother, portrayed by Cherry Jones, rejects the daughter and wants her out of sight while she provides music for the emotional congregation. Young Tammy Faye, almost literally with her nose to the glass window of the church, will not be daunted, and attends a revival-type meeting where she is immediately saved and falls to the floor, speaking in tongues.
Grown up, Tammy gets herself to a Bible College where she meets a floundering young would-be preacher named Jim Bakker and they immediately fall in love and get married because in their minds, God wants them to have sex. They start an itinerant ministry with Tammy's inspiration of using puppets to spread Christianity to children. Jim buys a big car, falls behind on the payments, and through this initial situation, we see the beginning of the pattern that will take them to the highest heights either of them could imagine. Tammy Faye has the creativity, charm, and common sense to sell them as a couple--and Jim is the impractical, greedy partner, who hopes to tame her spirit enough to find the fame and fortune he believes God has promised him.
When broke, they fall on their knees as ask God to intervene. A stranger appears who has seen their puppet presentation on a local Christian TV channel and offers to introduce them to Pat Robertson, who is looking for new talent for his budding Christian television enterprise. From there the only way they go is up, with Tammy Faye attracting the audience while Jim plays the carnival barker for Christ. It's an unsavory story at best. In real time I admit I paid little attention to it--but in the film, which sees Tammy Faye as wise and dopey at the same time, always deferring to Jim, it becomes a cautionary tale I should not have ignored. Even when Jim asks her to bare her soul on TV--the donations always pour in when she does this--she obeys and ends up weeping profusely at her humiliation.
The Bakkers build an empire (a television empire anyway) by asking for donations to one scam or another, and invite the envy and scorn of other powerful "televangelists." Ronald Reagan congratulates them for their "charitable" work. All the while they are living beyond their means, Jim is avoiding Tammy Faye in the bedroom and blaming her, of course, and she is at sea in a world where her talents are not appreciated. Jim takes credit for being holier, which he is not, and is clear to everybody else.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye doesn't have much to do with her eyes, but lets the audience in on the underpinnings of the political power of the Evangelical movement and how conscious its leaders were of what they were doing at the outset. It is hilarious at times, slightly serious at others, and a most valuable movie to see. Its larger-than-life characters, settings, costumes and makeup make it better on the big screen, so go to a cinema palace for this one. But don't miss it.
