Scientology: Ein Glaubensgefängnis

I didn't know much about Scientology before, but been awaiting this documentary for all the publicity it generated. And I wasn't disappointed. It unfolds rather slowly, but reveals details and time line of Scientology in way that makes sense for someone like me who knows little about it. I just wished I had read up about Scientology beliefs before watching, as I didn't quite understand the whole aliens reference, and sci-fi beliefs they have as part of Scientology. I wondered if this was really part of their beliefs or the documentary was exaggerating it. Turns out it's all factual! The whole of 2 hours I was just going, 'wtf?!!', and the intensity only escalates as the time line and events unfold. It was occasionally borderline cheesy, especially when the interviewee emotions seemed a bit forced. But overall, it's well written and the interviewees do a great job of narrating their experiences.

I thoroughly enjoyed this program. Who better to describe the inner workings of the "church" than former members? You can say that they're all disgruntled, and have a beef with Scientology, and rightly so. They had the presence of mind to realize what a sham it is. One estimate of the required coursework necessary to achieve "clear" cost in excess of $300,000. A true church is proud of it's doctrine, and doesn't charge members to learn about it. That fact alone separates Scientology from the mainstream religions. So the church should expect that some of the people they've scammed will eventually have a problem with it, and expose it for what it is....a business. Great job, HBO!

I was involved with Scientology from 1978-1990 and encountered some of the human rights abuses that Alex Gibney exposed in his documentary. The Sea Org people, who sign Billion Year contracts, bore the brunt of the mistreatment and are well represented in this film. Most former members will know of details that were not included in the show, but the topics that became the focus received a more complete treatment as a result.

The humanity of these survivors shown through in each interview and should evoke empathy in anyone willing to accept the truth in the story. I never felt that someone was embellishing or seeking attention; in fact, quite the opposite.

A huge thank you to HBO for having the guts to air this and not back down.

There are a number of documentaries about this having accumulated since the 60s, but the phenomenon is that each new documentary reveals new more shocking facts about the business and its mentality than the previous ones, apparently because the material is still accumulating. There is very much important data from earlier documentaries missing here, many key persons are left out of the picture, which nevertheless is completed by the new ones appearing, corroborating all previous testimonies. It's a vitally important documentary, most of all because in the world society we are living in today so many, if not the majority of people, are not aware that it is an age of brainwash, and they still haven't learned to protect themselves against it. What you marvel at in this documentary, which many of the participants honestly do, is that they keep swallowing the racket for years before they can bring themselves to accept that they have been swindled, in most cases of their lives, which they don't realize until their lives are lost or completely devastated. In an effort to concentrate on the good things in Scientology I wrote an article some years back where I posed the open question - what went wrong? Apparently everything went wrong from the beginning, the founder having no self-criticism and no objective distance to what he was doing, but simply himself first of all falling a victim to the delusions of his own science fiction fantasies. Of course, there must be something good in Scientology, there must be a corn of truth in it somewhere, but whatever once was good and even of some worthwhile philosophical common sense and rational wisdom was flooded by the bolting derailing vicious circle of greed fueled by unrestricted paranoia, the constant validation of which seems to be the very substance and force of the organization.

We've all passed the well intentioned folks in the street asking if we want to take a free stress test, or a personality test. That can't be a bad thing right? In this crazy world we all want to be able manage our stress levels, or work on our character flaws in order to succeed in life. In case you didn't know the test is the first doorway into the cult religion of Scientology.

Going clear gives us an insight into the founding, and the dark practices that go on behind the scenes of Scientology. Where L Ron Hubbard, was a selfish failure of a man possibly with delusions of grandeur who founded an obscure and weird religion, Going Clear reveals that the man who succeeded him after his death is a power mad tyrant by the name of David Miscavige.

Using Lawrence Wright's book as a basis for the research, Alex Gibney has crafted a very engaging documentary, utilizing talking head interviews with people who have been through the wringer of Scientology cut together with archive footage from multiple sources exposing the very core of Scientology. Many of the interviewees were people that had reached the highest ranks within the organization, some of them talking very candidly about the abusive practices that they were involved with on both ends; the giving and receiving. With all this going on we also see how of millions of dollars gets funneled to the privileged few at the top and how the church of Scientology can skirt the tax laws to keep all of its ill gotten gains for itself.

Of course no documentary about Scientology would be complete without commenting on it's two celebrity superstars, John Travolta and Tom Cruise. Whereas you may pity Travolta who seems to be somewhat trapped, Cruise has become quite the poster boy for the religion. Going Clear raises some important questions as to whether or not Tom Cruise is aware of the inner workings of Scientology and how much he knows about the abuses towards the rank and file of the organization.

What is most frightening though is the lengths Scientology will go to to protect its image. Hubbard wrote that the church should go on the offensive against it's critics and not be defensive, and you will see in Going Clear some of the low bottom feeding tactics Scientology uses to keep the followers in line and how it seeks to control defectors from the religion.

Gibney reserves his most scathing criticism for Miscavige, the man currently at the top of the religion, and no punches are pulled showing him to be controlling, abusive and manipulative. I won't spoil the scene for anyone who hasn't seen the documentary, but the psychological musical chairs game he plays with his some of his leadership gives us a brief look into his twisted mind.

The only thing I wish that this documentary showed was some rebuttal and defense from Scientology members, however the credits tell us that many of the top people within Scientology, Miscavige and Cruise included were invited to be interviewed, but all declined. to be on record. This is unfortunate because it would have been interesting to see what high ranking members would say in their defense of all the allegations that Going Clear makes against them.

Going clear is an important documentary in that it shows us the dangers of being sucked into a cult. Lessons from this could be applied to any personality cult religion. If you know people that are in Scientology. Maybe they have 'Disconnected' from you then this film will at least show you why your friend or family member is acting this way. Anything that helps us to understand and warn us against an unhealthy life choice is a good thing and Going Clear does just that.