Documentary follows Pastafarians as they strain for recognition

"The irony of releasing the film in the midst of a pandemic as people are debating the science surrounding facts isn't lost on Arthur. "Right now in the U.S., science is treated almost as another belief system," he said. "We have a global pandemic right now, but people won't listen to experts, because a too-large-to-ignore population of the country thinks that science is just an opinion...Pastafarianism was really created based on this idea, based on exposing this false-equivalency."

The tone of the film is light, but the legal challenges are not made in jest — the point being that preferential treatment based on religion should be applied equally to every faith, or not at all. “I, Pastafari” is short and sweet, but like “Satan?” leaves you with something to think about.

“I, Pastafari feels little urge to become a full-blown doc about church and state, and who can blame it? Like its heroes, it walks a fine line between pointing out the ridiculousness of the world's creation myths and not wanting to insult those who use faith to aid and comfort their fellow humans. Given how often godlessness is repped by insufferably smug folks like Bill Maher and Ricky Gervais, it's a relief to see the same points made by mild-mannered folk willing to sit in front of judges and lawmakers wearing (pasta) strainers on their heads.”

“When Sophia Loren insisted, ‘Everything you see I owe to spaghetti,’ she knew of what she spoke, possibly more than she might have imagined. You’ll understand after seeing Pastafari: A Flying Spaghetti Monster Story, one of the more delicious, amusing, and relevant documentaries of the year.”

Film Threat

Filmmaker Mike Arthur’s new film “I, Pastafari” explores the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and its “millions” of adherents. Here, he writes about this wild new religion.