Title: My
Scientology Movie
Director: John Dower
Released: 2015
Plot: Documentary
following Louis Theroux in his attempts to make a film about the
Church of Scientology only to find his attempts being blocked at
every turn. Now teaming up with former senior church official Mark
Rathbun he attempts to create reconstructions of incidents within the
church.
Review: Starting his
career working as part of Michael Moore’s “TV Nation” team
Louis Theroux would soon go on to forge a name for himself as he
immersed himself in America’s sub-cultures via his “Weird
Weekends” series which saw him hanging with seemingly everyone from
pornstars and wrestlers through to survivalists. Theroux also in his
native England produced a series of intimate portraits of celebrity
figures such as the former TV Magician Paul Daniels and most
memorably Jimmy Savile many having fallen out of the limelight.
However it was after these films that Theroux decided to drop his
humorous and mischievous antics from his documentaries and instead
make more serious films and its this tact that we still find Theroux
in for his big screen debut.
While it might seem
a fairly straightforward topic to make a documentary about,
especially with the wealth of footage out there relating to the
church and their often less than orthodox practises. Instead Theroux
makes the unusual choice of imitating “The Act of Killing” which
featured Indonesian Genocidaires re-enacting their crimes and here
large portions of the film are dedicated to the casting of actors to
play parts such as the church’s leader David Miscavige aswell as
possibly the most recognised church member Tom Cruise. Its actually
quite shocking how much of the film is dedicated to these sections
and it makes for a jarring experience to see Theroux breaking away
from his established formula especially when there is never any
proper explanation of why these scenes are being included.
Opening to Theroux
explaining that he had originally intended to make a film exploring
the beliefs and its various practises, he finds himself
unsurprisingly denied all access by the church and in doing so
instantly damming themselves from the opening onwards with such
fierce secrecy surrounding their practises that no other organised
religion so fiercely fights to protect. Even the highly controversial
Westboro Baptist Church welcomed Louis into the church on two
occastions for “The Most Hated Family in America” and its follow
up “America’s Most Hated Family in Crisis” but alas this was
not to be perhaps unsurprisingly with “The Church of Scientology”
who much like Seaworld in “Blackfish” only condemn themselves
from the start by not wishing to participate leaving us to form our
opinions from the former members involved and the tactics used by the
church to block the films production.
Mark Rathbun once
more seems to be the go to guy for former Scientologists as here he
once more provides the entry point into the world of Scientology as
he chalks up another documentary appearance after previously being
seen in the arguably more superior “Scientologists At War” and
the thorough “Goung Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”
the latter of which the Church threatened to block the film from
being shown in the UK. As a former high level member of the Church
Rathbun was perfectly placed to give some of the most indepth
accounts of the church’s practises many of which he shares
throughout the film, especially being hounded by the church’s
“Squirrel Squad” whose methods revolve around filming and
harassing their targets at all times, techniques which again they
attempt to use here to block filming only to find themselves equally
matched by Theroux who has seemingly zero qualms about facing off
against any of the members he encounters filming them as they film
him in celuloid stand off’s while giving the audience the kind of
interactions we where hoping for especially those familiar with
Theroux’s previous films.
Despite the
seemingly fearless nature which Theroux has shown when it comes to
tackling his various subjects and I was expecting to see more of the
same here, but ultimately outside of the a few inevitable stand off’s
with members of the church sent to harass the production we don’t
get to see anything that we haven't seen in other documentaries on
the subject, though Theroux might be the first to actually annoy
these camera crews enough that they’d rather walk away than deal
with him. Ultimately the church largely resort to threatening the
production with legal threats which Theroux attempts to address in
person, only to find himself blocked by the church’s security once
more and making the viewer only wonder more what exactly the church
is so fiercely scared of being exposed by the film while there is an
air of paranoia from the start as actress Paz de La Huerta stumbles
burbling about her acting career during an early conversation between
Theroux and Rathbun in a wonderfully surreal moment, which sadly
might also be the highlight of the film, especially as Theroux
wonders if she had been sent by David Miscavige as a “honeytrap”.
One of the most
frustrating aspects outside of the general lack of direction here
comes with the sound which constantly seems to dip during the
re-enactment sections leaving me to constantly fiddle around the
volume controls as I was either struggling to hear what was being
said or being blasted by the sound returning to normal.
Ultimately this is a
film which enters with big ambitions only to remain small in scope as
the reinactments and numerous casting sessions feel like nothing more
than filler to cover for the lack of progress that Theroux made in
cracking the church and while he might cite that the intention of the
documentary was to try and provoke a reaction from the church we
learn nothing new here that we haven't seen in other documentaries on
the subject. True it might be amusing to see Theroux face off against
various members, but this one is really for the die hard fans of his
work than those seeking to know more about Scientology.
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