Children of God

I love s good documentary about a cult, and the Children of God always sparked my interest . But this documentary made in 1994 has the feel of a educational film in the 50's. I wanted to know this family and their psychic struggles in cult life and leaving. We never hear from the father of the family or the sons, and we get no sense of how these folks were seduced into this cult. When the mother left the cult, what happened to her other children. One does not leave a cult without severe psychic damage- PTSD,. This mother left and joined a charismatic church and seems to have no problems? How do leave a cult with 3 daughters and reclaim a life. There is no real explanation on how this cult claims to be Christian, yet the Bible is not taught . Don't waste your time on this dated film which would have been dated in 1994. Very little clarity on Moses Davis the cult leader. I left the film feeling like this family may have left the formality of the cult but got no help in joining society, especially the mother who shows no emotion even over her dead daughter.

How did this Mother and father escape prosecution? This was an admission by the Mother allowing her underage children to be abused. The Mother laughed while telling her story. I seen nothing funny about it.

If you are expecting a sensationalized documentary this isn't the documentary for you. Facts and interviews are presented and narrated telling the horrifying story of the Padilla family's life in "Children.of God". It's a sad story of sexual abuse and control behind an already precarious doomsday cult. This cult exists now as The Family.

It's understandable if you aren't familiar with trauma to look at the mother and this family and think they don't care. The way the mother keeps anxiously fiddling with her sleeves and nervously laughing is due to the fact that she is uncomfortable talking about her time in the cult. She is uncomfortable with the feelings it brings up. The human brain does amazing things to protect itself from trauma and distancing yourself is one of them. At the time of the documentary it had only been 3 years since they left the cult the whole family may have not processed everything. Having PTSD doesn't automatically mean you will be in hysterics when telling your story especially when you may still be in survival mode as this family was clearly in, trying to deal with the outside life. That can also happen when someone has told their story more than a few times.

So if this family seem callous it's simply because they didn't have time to deal their trauma yet. Not to mention feeling vulnerable enough to process an emotion on camera with a stranger for someone who isn't always in front of one would be rare.

*Trigger Warning for SA and child abuse and Child SA* for this documentary.

Hearing some of the things that this family endures is heartbreaking. Losing a child because your religion makes you feel that taking medication proves you're weak?? The interview at the end with the cult's representative was mildly entertaining considering the fact they had video evidence for every question they asked him to prove he was either lying or distorting the truth. I understand that it's frustrating that they only interviewed this one family, but the documentary was about this one family and their experiences. There is enough literature out there from other former members to read if you need more proof beyond this one family's story.

Excellent and tragic portrayal of a particularly destructive group that still exists. Thank you to the Padillas for such openness. Truly.