A scene from the documentary “Better Angels: The Gospel According to Tammy Faye.”
(Courtesy of the Sundance Institute)
You may be wondering: Do we really need another examination of Tammy Faye Messner, former Bakker, noted televangelist, media figure, three-time memoirist, and subject of more podcasts, stage productions, and Oscar-winning films than you can shake a stick at? in a Bible? ? If you allow me a moment, yes. With her blonde hair and her penchant for big eyelashes, her heavy mascara, and her bright lipstick, Messner cut a glamorous (some would say striking) figure for the wife of a church leader. But as a singer, LGBTQ rights advocate, divorcee, cancer patient, and businesswoman, among many other potential labels, she led a much more interesting and complicated life than sensationalized treatment of her appearance would suggest. In other words, Dana Adam Shapiro's four-part reconsideration of Messner, built from interviews with “family, friends and enemies,” promises to be the most complete account yet of a woman so fascinating that she has always resisted define the. Sign me up. — Matt Brennan
