"Fascinating, Harrowing Exposé"
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What You Need To Know:
MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE is a harrowing, fascinating documentary, laced with a strong deadpan sense of humor by Theroux. There are suspenseful, disturbing moments where Theroux, his cast and the former cult members are stalked and filmed throughout California by mysterious people showing up with cameras and harassing them. The re-enactments are also disturbing. The movie has a strong moral worldview in that it seeks to expose the horrific truths behind some of Scientology’s evil practices. However, MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE contains lots of foul language, so extreme caution is advised.
Content:
(BB, LLL, VV, MMM) Strong moral worldview where documentary filmmaker seeks to expose the horrific truths of Scientology’s evil practices, using inventive though controversial techniques to spark the memories of key former members; at least 56 obscenities (about 40 “f” words) and no profanities; several borderline-violent re-enactments of the rather sadistic behavior of Scientology leader toward his followers where he smashes objects, shoves people against walls, orders them to get on their knees and crawl, and tells one person to get on their knees and lick the floor, depicted with extremely deadpan humor but somewhat disturbing nonetheless; no sex; no nudity; no alcohol; no smoking or drugs; and, strong miscellaneous content includes depictions and discussions of harassment, stalking and other forms of psychological intimidation, as well as lying and deception by active members of Scientology against the unbiblical, anti-Christian cult’s critics.
More Detail:
MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE is a serious documentary about the unbiblical, anti-Christian cult of Scientology with frequently humorous elements, where BBC humorist Louis Theroux casts and films a docudrama about the history of Scientology in order to spur the memories of former key cult members. MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE has a strong moral worldview, but contains lots of foul language and some disturbing re-enactments of alleged intimidation and other violent behavior of the Scientology leader against his followers.
The movie opens with Theroux explaining in narration that he wanted to make a documentary about Scientology, but was refused access to the cult’s members and facilities. He had hoped in particular to interview the cult’s controversial current leader David Miscavige, but was taken aback by the vitriol with which he was denied.
Theroux opts instead to find a few key former Scientology officials who had left the cult, including a former violent interrogator named Marty Rathbun and ask them about their experiences. However, when they, particularly Rathbun, are reticent to open up about their bleakest moments there, Theroux decides to use a psychological trick to make them be forthcoming. He tells them he’s shooting a narrative movie using actors to portray Miscavige and Scientology’s most famous member, Tom Cruise. He asks Rathbun and the others to be at the auditions and on set, as the actors recite lines and act out utterly shocking tirades.
The result is a harrowing, fascinating documentary, laced with a strong deadpan sense of humor throughout by Theroux. There are also suspenseful, disturbing moments where Theroux, Rathbun and others are stalked and filmed all over California by mysterious people showing up with cameras and harassing them. Add in the re-enactments and the memories they inspire in Rathbun and others, and MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE becomes an invaluable look at how cult mindsets work.
The movie has a strong moral worldview in that Theroux seeks to expose the horrific truths of some of Scientology’s evil practices. Viewers should be forewarned, however, about the barrage of “f” words in two or three scenes re-enacting the behavior of the cult’s head, David Miscavige. Nevertheless, mature audiences, especially those eager to learn about this “cult to the stars,” will find MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE to be fascinating, entertaining viewing.
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