The Reverend

Rating: 7/10

Director and Writer: Nick Canfield

Style: Music Biography

Time: 1 hour and 26 minutes:

Review by Mike Szymanski

Very few documentaries are as inspiring and joyful as this one. Religious or not, spiritual or not, a believer or not, you will be inspired by “The Reverend,” just like his band mates who are not reverent at all!

“The Reverend” features a real-life man of the cloth who not only is a bit foul-mouthed and progressive, he sometimes takes all his clothes off while at the height of his preaching. He’s also an exceptional musician and singer.

He’s a local notable in the Brooklyn area, and director Nick Canfield became fascinated, saying, “I had been going to see Reverend Vince’s weekly concert for a few years and was always amazed at the power of his performances. It wasn’t just the music that blew me away, it was the feeling of community in the room. Here in the most unlikely of places, a bar in Brooklyn, people from all walks of life were meeting to have a spiritual experience. ‘

This wild character, Reverend Vince Anderson, is an institution around Williamsburg, Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint and Bed-Stuy for more than a quarter of a century. His music, which has been described by critics as a mix of Joe Cocker and gospel, is his own high-energy Dirty Gospel sound.

And, as I have said, people who are religious or not, spiritual or not, Christian or not, flock to hear his preachings of Jesus, and good versus evil, and the power of the Bible. It changes them spiritually, and psychically, and it will do that to the audiences who enjoy this rocking documentary.

Ironically, and thankfully, this doc is not preachy, and not ultra-religious. In fact, many members of his own band are not into the religious aspects that he teaches, and they say so rather readily. The band is called the Love Choir, and it consists of talented musicians who have had a world of experience playing with big names in the past, but now want to play with the Reverend. Many of them have had personal problems with addictions and have found help in him.

Canfield, the director and writer of this insightful bio-pic, says the reverend’s “modern and inclusive spirituality is a different, progressive kind of Christianity, one that resonates with believers and atheists alike, and can be a force for good.”

The shared joy and communal nature of Reverend Vince’s audience look past his rough ways and his large kaftan-clad frame and come for the community of it all.

The documentary shows him at marches, and doing other forms of activism, such as going to play and pray at the site of the El Paso mass shooting.

The Rev is not a Donald Trump supporter, which puts him at odds with a lot of his flock, and other Christians and Evangelicals as he travels around the country.

In the movie, he confronts Trump supporters and later says, “If they are still in for Donald Trump there’s no way we can convince them.” But a lot of people quietly thank him for taking a harsh stand against the former president and feel now that there’s a bit of hope.

“The political candidate you support may have some beliefs that may not be Christian,” the Reverend warns. If he were around today, “Trump would sue Jesus’s ass.”

Then, he adds, “Trump sold people his gospel of tolerance and hate.”

A great many concerts are shown, at places like Union Pool where people chant for the Reverend and we see him come on in all his glory.

A long-haired chubby hippie with a white wide-brimmed hat, he jiggles as he pounds on the piano. In the audience, girls are shaking their breasts wildly and guys sway like they are in a trance.

It was Martin Scorcese’s movie “Last Temptation of Christ” that motivated him into spirituality. He leg began to twitch, and he felt the music ready to spill out.

A talented musician Billy Campion said he was tripping on acid the first time he saw the Rev playing an accordion and he quickly joined the band, and shaped himself up.

They play at 2 to 4 p.m. out days, and people get hammered while watching him.

“Drunk people like gospel music,” the Reverend says.

One bar owner was cautious after the Reverend played at his establishment for a long time. “He beat the shit out of pianos,” the bar owner said.

The Reverend’s messages seem to flow out of him. he says the words eat your soul, and the words just come to him. Are they inspirations or instructions?

Sax player Paula Henderson answered an ad in the Village Voice and found the Rev. David “Smoota” Smith on the trombone says most of the band is anti-religious but they were introduced to a spiritual side of music through the Rev.

This documentary is the winner of the DOC NYC Audience Award and winner of the Best Domestic Feature Award in the Thin Line Festival in 2023.

The documentary is making him even more renown, after playing for more than two decades with the Love Choir. It’s a rocking rock concert as well as a revealing an real portrayal of a man, and pretty inspiring.

One of the people taken in, and working with the Love Choir is Jay Baker, the son of evangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Baker. He thought “the whole reverend thing was a schtick.”

The Reverend acknowledges this, and says, “People have been wounded by the church. It’s a big problem. Jn religion people put on a mask to be part of the community, that’s a bad way to find community.”

Around him, he wants people to feel real, and as much of themselves and they can.”

“The Reverend” is on the Criterion Channel, Amazon Prime, NightFlight Plus, Social Justice and other video on demand streaming platforms.

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