I’m someone who has always been able to appreciate the documentaries Louis Theroux makes. With a lot of respect and realistic view he has been able to get access to people who were part of special groups. With his curiosity and style of questioning he managed to give insight into the motivation of his subjects, not matter how extreme. Scientology is a religion which is present all around the world and has many followers, including celebrities like Tom Cruise and John Travolta. The fact that Therous was making a film about it got me interested.
I previously saw Alex Gibney’s documentary about Scientology called Going Clear, which managed to present a lot of (shocking) information about the origins, the belief system and inner workings of this church (and even how it managed to become an official religion in America). With that documentary in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but compare this film with it. This documentary is fairly tame and doesn’t reveal as much information. He has access to a former Scientology manager, but isn’t really able to ask him tough questions. As he doesn’t have access to the church itself, he hires actors to re-enact various scenarios, which never feel real because of the artificial surroundings. There are a couple of funny moments though, like a moment in which he wants to film somewhere near a Scientology location and gets into a discussion whether or not it is a public road. If you want to know more about Scientology I think Going Clear is the better documentary and this is a nice supplement to it.
I can’t comment too much on the film as I only watched about half an hour but it didn’t work for me. As a big Louis Theroux fan it was even more disappointing. He can do so much better than this.