Faith in the Big House

2016 • 56 minutes

About this movie

FAITH IN THE BIG HOUSE goes deep inside a religious revival at a maximum security prison to reveal the carefully orchestrated formulas used by evangelical ministries seeking to convert a group of convicts to Christianity.

Ratings and reviews

The grassroots documentary “Faith in the Big House” sharply packs an informative punch on the realities and impacts of religious-based reform programs that operate in our nation’s prisons. This film isn’t a sugarcoated “hey, look at me” humblebrag fireworks display celebrating any particular preacher or church’s shallow efforts that, in reality, only add up to little more than window dressing. This film isn’t an offshoot of the conveniently-produced stereotypes being perpetuated on reality TV prison shows flooding cable channels. “Faith in the Big House” commendably exudes wide-ranging integrity to redefine the mountain of misleading facts and truths. At just under an hour, “Faith in the Big House” is perfectly succinct in its pacing and length of interview statements. No one is grandstanding for airtime. Nothing spoken is a circular or wasteful rant. Taut musical cues steer and mesh solid transitions of perspectives and settings. Schwartz and his team maintain a firm leash of sharp editing, allowing the documentary to flow with uncommon energy to pack together a hefty bevvy of personal anecdotes, living examples, and stellar roots of facts and details.