My Scientology Movie
Scientology was a “religion” started by sci-fi writer Ron L. Hubbard. They believe in eternal life and when joining the religion, you are required to sign a billion year contract to serve the church. Scientology is less of a religion and seemingly more so a cult. Filmmaker Louis Theroux explores the depths of this religion by interviewing some of the ex top members of it. The actual religion refuses to speak to Theroux himself, and the leader has only ever done one interview. The film focuses on the ex second-in-command, Marty Rathbun, as he discloses and teaches Theroux about the inner workings of the cult. The film is tense throughout, as many members from the church come after the film crew. They interrogate the crew and get in their face and harass them. Louis Theroux’s interviewing style is casual, he will challenge the ideas of who’s being interviewed, and will often leave long hilarious pauses in tense conversations.The documentary switches from interviews, to exploring locations of the church, actors recreating events from the church, and Marty actually using the teachings from the church to teach the actors. Objectively, it’s well shot, not a ton of shaky low-quality camera work that some documentaries contain. It’s all mostly high quality shoulder shots following Theroux and Marty. They had some sort of large budget, which is scene in the set building for the recreation of the scenes. Subjectively, I thought it was an incredibly interesting film. The topic is so bizarre because as you watch the film, you wonder how this religion is allowed to exist legally. Tom Cruise is the most prominent and wealthiest member of the church, which is important because in order to move up within the church, you must pay to move up in the levels of awareness. If you ever have a free moment, watch this documentary (it’s on Netflix), it isn’t dry and the topic is so captivating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo5O_SvmLgc
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