Parents' Guide to

God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty

By JK Sooja, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Docu about church scandal has sex, violence, language.

Movie NR 2022 110 minutes
God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty Movie: Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 8+

Based on 1 parent review

age 8+

Why Christians suck

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

This docu is terrifying, compelling, and revealing. Yes, God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty features some sordid and salacious sexual content involving a married couple and a younger man. Even though Giancarlo Granda tells his story throughout (about his lessons learned, the pain he suffered, and how he was only trying to use the Falwells to help launch his career, as they kept promising him), the film spends about half its runtime giving a history lesson about the relationship between powerful evangelical Christian leaders and the Republican Party, including Jerry Falwell Sr. and Jerry Falwell Jr., the latter of whom referred to himself as a "kingmaker." While this history lesson is fascinating, it's still long, and for some it may feel like a bait and switch of sorts. Indeed, the last third of the film is mostly about Jerry Falwell Jr.'s relationship with Michael Cohen and former president Donald Trump. And yet, it's all done very well, even if, by the end, as Granda speaks to feeling great about getting to tell his side of the story, the film has long moved on already, eager to use Granda's story for a deeper revelation about the Republican Party.

A downside to this movie is that the docu doesn't have enough time to devote to some of the biggest revelations to come out of the sex scandal's aftermath, which, namely, is how a university has gotten away with promoting rape culture and the silencing of their women student population. But after the scandal, more than 50 women spoke out about their rapes, assaults, druggings, and lack of any consequences whatsoever for their rapists, which is a positive development to result from this horrifying situation.

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Movie Details

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