Review of My Scientology Movie (2016) by Elliot P — 18 Nov 2016

Louis Theroux is very prolific in the documentary style of film-making, his films are informative, emotional and sometimes quite scary. Having heard Mark Kermode's review of 'My Scientology Movie' the general point I thought he put across is that, had you seen Alex Gibney's 'Going Clear', you would not get much more information out of this documentary. Having not seen 'Going Clear', my knowledge of Scientology was very limited, so this film really helped fill me in on what the 'church' stands for.

The immediate impression I get from the film about the Church of Scientology is that any outsiders are considered to be lesser people, however any previous members of the church are considered less so. The Church treats its people the same is its buildings or equipment, they are merely assets. At times throughout the documentary, I would find myself struggling to believe the things that the followers of Scientology would say and how they would act towards others - there are several points in the documentary where Louis and his crew are being filmed by someone who is assumed to be part of the church.

Louis tries his best to get information out of current members, but they, trained like dogs, do not give him the time of day. Louis instead enlists the help of former, and high ranking, member of the church, Mark Rathbun, a clearly broken and tormented individual who is clearly living life under the radar because 'they' can always see him. Rathbun's stories of the senior level of Scientology make it a religion to be feared and not embraced.

Overall I think that Louis Theroux does a fantastic job of letting the audience know the truth of Scientology; it is painfully clear that the church has a darker side to it and one simply anticipates the arrival of new and more damning information on the church.