I started watching this documentary because I found a clip with the caption, “Jesus v Football. They sang about violence and prayed for forgiveness. Inside the Jesus Army, faith, football chants, and contradiction lived side by side. Much has been said about the group. This was simply what I saw. From Battlecentre, filmed over a year inside the community.” The clip very much gave the feel of a ‘mocumentary’, showing two Millwall fans talking about their balance between faith and football.
Being filmed in 2000/2001, it gives a really nostalgic 90s/early 2000s feel that, I think, recently got brought to the mainstream by mocumentary style shows like People Just Do Nothing and This Country, being two that first come to mind. I guess it also gave me a feeling of slight awkwardness along side a free approach to asking challenging questions and getting answers without really pushing for them.
Before doing some more digging and actually watching the full Battlecentre documentary, Jesus Army was only something that I had heard of and never something that I knew anything about.
The film starts with showing someone in a room pouring a bucket of water into a paddling pool. The camera then pans across another room, looks like a living room, full of maybe 20 - 30 people singing “Loving you the Lord” together.
Narration from director, Leo Regan, referring to his Catholic upbringing and how he, “like many, feels uncomfortable around Christianity,” explains why he tried to make a film about this Christian community. “A fanatically religious group who pursue a regimented spiritual life. Because as much as I’m repelled by them, I’m fascinated.”
I get to around the 2 minute mark when we meet the two guys from the Jesus v Football clip that I initially saw. At this point I have to pause it and do some more digging because this can’t be real. Regan asks Gavin, the first of the two we meet, what he would choose, if he had to, between Jesus and Football. Both of them laugh, firmly stating that was not even an option for them. “Jesus and Millwall” one of them says, “as long as I can have those two in life, then I’ll be happy.”
So, anyway, it turns out I am about to watch a documentary following a cult in London. There were apparently over 100 Jesus Army houses across the country, but this is life inside one specific house given the name Battlecentre. The introduction on YouTube reads - “Former addicts, runaways, and ordinary families live together under one roof, sharing money, work, and faith. Anyone can join, but only if they fully commit. A raw, intimate, and unforgettable portrait of faith, belonging, and transformation.”
Alec's is another quite interesting story. He is a Scottish man picked up by the Jesus Army 2 days prior, while hitchhiking on the side of a motorway. He has been working abroad but returned to start a new life. Alec tells the camera that this is the last place he thought he would end up, talking about his experience of Mormons knocking on his flat in Aberdeen and how religious things have never ever bothered him, “it’s each to their own” he says. “You go and do your thing, I’ll go down the pub instead, you know?”
Throughout the documentary we see Alec in various different states of mind. He seems unsure of why he is there but also unable to remove himself from the community. For whatever reason, Alec seems to want to stay. Although in the beginning he is merely observing and keeping a distance, you can’t help but see his urge to want to join in. He describes his early experience as hypnotic and explains, "you’ve got to keep on pulling yourself away or you just get sucked in."
The documentary follows people from the top of the ‘church’ to the people seeking answers/guidance, from the two Millwall fans, to Keith, the 17 year old who’s recently left his foster family. These people seem to be seeking a sense of community, a sense of being and belonging. Everyone is searching for their own answers in life but are all, for whatever reason, drawn to the Jesus Army.
I still can’t find anything that suggests these are not real people. Where are they now? Of course you can do your research into the cult that is Jesus Army and what has been brought to light since.
We urge everyone to go and watch the other films created by Leo, all eye opening in their own way, and all following extremely different walks of human life.
Enjoy!