Friday, October 21, 2016
Thought control
When I lived in Boston, back in the Fifties, it was hard to walk down the street without getting invited to buy a book and come to supper at the Scientology Center
I never went.
I often wondered what happened when people did.
Over the years I heard about the "church" and drew a pretty strong conclusion that it was a hype perpetrated by a con man and run by prisoners of their own culpability.
Today's film doesn't do much to dispel this original impression. But it is pretty good even if it will not change anyone's mind.
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)
This is a pretty good documentary but it is mostly old stuff. I would have liked it to plow some new ground but the later years of the "church" are filled with difficult times and there is not much new ground to plow.
Paul Haggis of the movies is the main guy in this. He is a member of 35 years who finally got that he didn't get it. Except for the hosing.
I sort of get how mind control works. It is less clear in this film about how people stayed years and years despite abuse at the hands of their little dictator Miscavige. But then this is the old conundrum about victims and how they cooperate in their own slavery.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5.
I would have liked a bit more exposé especially of that giant dickhead, the pillar of the "church" Tom Cruise.
I will have to wait.
