The king of awkwardness strikes again. This time Louis Theroux tries to enter the ‘cult’ world of scientology, but receives a letter that denies him entry. He therefore tries to enter this world by investigating those who have chosen to leave the church and how they believe the church is run. Highly engaging with clever re-enactments of speeches from scientology leader David Miscavige, and interviews with renowned scientology follower Tom Cruise.
The wonderfully awkward Louis Theroux is back, this time with a ‘movie’, much like his TV series weird weekends, Louis’ documentary aims to give the average person an insight into some weird unknown territory. In doing this, as many fans warned, Louis needed to have his lawyers at the ready, one of the reasons the film was so interesting. Not only was he filming this documentary but also he was being filmed and followed by the scientologists as an act of retaliation.
The most alarming part of the film is that, by watching, it is easy to become fascinated by how alienated the believers or those who have believed in the scientology philosophies and way of life are. As ever Louis is ever present within the film not scared to push the limits of the church, in order to gain a true understanding of what the church is really hiding. There are fewer formal interviews compared to his other documentaries, maybe due to the lack of access to those within the church. The film feels more like a parody; it’s not just Louis we’re laughing at in this film but also the way he has chosen to recreate important events in the scientology community. Interlacing re-enactments with archive footage to create a farcical chain of events. These connections of real and fictional scenes create a very Meta film, always on the boundary between fact and fiction.
Perhaps due to the larger budget, the film is much less fly-on-the-wall and more dramatised and stylised, creating a film more suitable for Hollywood and perhaps in doing this, loses the rough and ready charm of Theroux’s other documentaries. Due to the difficulty in finding people willing to speak openly about scientology, the film focuses mainly on one SP (suppressive person - scientology’s outcasts), Marty Rathbun, who has left the church. Rathbun was an influential presence to the scientology community while he was there, and highlights using real techniques how easy it is to begin a journey into the way of thinking of a scientologist, giving a good insight into the cult world of scientology.
Although the film doesn’t manage to give a full perception of the world of scientology, it is brave in its attempts. As always Theroux is unafraid to push the boundaries and stand his ground, especially when he demands to stay in a scientology area demanding, “this is a public road”. He uses his awkward and naive British character to create some laughable moments. If his intentions are to enlighten the world to how scary it is to see someone so entranced by this cult, and its hidden brutality and violence, then it succeeds, but the full understanding of scientology is out of reach for Theroux. Unfortunately, this is evident in the film and by the end it feels as though there is more to be investigated.
Overall a good watch, witty and, as always, it is a delight to watch Louis Theroux annoy yet another American, but the desire for the full truth is not fulfilled as it is not quite accessible to the lovable documentary filmmaker.
7/10
Image: ew.com
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