Right-wing demagogues have so long monopolized the evangelistic style of oratory, one is apt to forget that it was a powerful weapon of liberation during the civil-rights movement. As "Reverend Billy," Bill Talen, a New York City performance artist and anti-globalism activist who preaches his message on street corners with a fake collar and fake Pentecostal cadences, won’t change that. "I probably lost my character," he admits after a lethargic "action" against a Disney souvenir store in Times Square. "But I think I got my message across." Maybe it was the crucified Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

As Dietmar Post’s warts-and-all documentary demonstrates, Talen’s heart may be in the right place as he condemns soul-destroying consumerism, Third World–exploiting sweat-shop production methods, and community-razing corporate expansion and leads bands of prankster followers to disrupt business and enlighten customers at local Starbucks and Barnes & Noble venues. But he has a little trouble establishing the right tone — postmodern irony, strident righteousness, bland earnestness? Also questionable is the film’s timing; all the events are pre–September 11, so the identification of Disney as "the Ground Zero of Evil" has unexpected connotations. Nonetheless, as a work in progress, Reverend Billy shows promise, and when in the end he gets arrested for protesting the demolition of the house where Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Raven," he gets some results.