A scene from the documentary “Better Angels: The Gospel According to Tammy Faye.”
(Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
You may be asking yourself: Do we really need another examination of Tammy Faye Messner, formerly Bakker, prominent televangelist, media fixture, three-time memoirist and subject of more podcasts, stage productions and Oscar-winning movies than you can shake a Bible at? If you’ll indulge me a moment, yes. With her blond hair and penchant for big eyelashes, heavy mascara and bright lipstick, Messner struck a glamorous — some would say gaudy — figure for a church leader’s wife. But as a singer, LGBTQ rights advocate, divorcee, cancer patient and businesswoman, among many other potential labels, she led a life far more interesting, and complicated, than the tabloid treatment of her appearance would suggest. In other words, Dana Adam Shapiro’s four-part reconsideration of Messner, constructed from interviews with “family, friends, and enemies,” promises to be the most thorough account yet of a woman so fascinating, she’s always resisted definition. Sign me up. — Matt Brennan