The Source Family

This documentary is pretty much the ultimate in "okay Boomer." In fact I'm finding some of the rave reviews of this documentary comical, as if they think there was really something complex and ultra-spiritual actually going on.

Father Yod was an alcoholic, a drug addict, a millionaire, and a murderer. So let's start there, okay?

A deranged teen girl who was basically "dying" according to herself and a neighborhood friend, fell in love with him as a father figure who saved her life. It's not unusual for someone taken in at such a young age under dire circumstances by a wealthy, powerful person to feel you owe that person something for life. Happens all the time, every day. They also did lots of speed together, as far as I can gather. Like, yeah, man. Like speed doesn't make people even more insane and selfish and abusive than alcohol. It's not exactly known as the spiritual peace drug.

So anyway, people as young as TWELVE (though some look to have been in their early-to-mid 20s...possibly) were all looking for a dad. They thought he was a baddie. They were impressed by his murders and his millions. Sounding spiritual to you yet? I didn't think so.

THEN (oh then) his "commandments" were to worship HIM like a god. "You must love your Earthly Father more than yourself." Yikes on several bikes, dude.

Sure, you're a lost kid living in a crappy apartment in LA, maybe abused by your own parents, or just kicked out by some rigid conservative Republican types who refused to pay for college or to help their young adult children get started....and A RICH GUY who has KILLED PEOPLE tells you he's god, and gives you drugs. Oh, he also buys a mansion for you all to live in. I don't see any big secret sauce here. This is fairly standard reasons why someone would take a shine to someone during a hard, desperate time in their lives - especially at a tender age like 12 or 19 or even 23.

I'm aghast and these rich old people still talking about Father Yod like he really had something going on. Saw one review that marveled that a group of privileged white Boomers living in a mansion in LA did well for themselves. Oh my god.

The reviewers so far are commenting on their opinion of the SUBJECT of the film, not the filmmaking.

The job of the filmmakers is to get a reaction and experience the subject - good, bad or indifferent.

This is a terrific documentary. I have rarely seen a doc that has been so well researched and has so much archival material. Plus they have tracked down all these folks who were originally part of this crazy, cultural experiment. Amazing story.

As a cultural document is so strong, but with the addition of all the insider participation it transforms itself into a one-of-a-kind experience. One of the best of the recent Americana docs. - thanks.

It is only near the end of the film that you realize that its whole orientation is bizarrely supportive and even advocating in favor of one of the most well-known cult of the 70's. This movie is about a despicable crazed man, as poisonous and manipulative as most cult leaders, and at no point during the movie filled with a soundtrack of the trashy and unbearable hippie music the cult "produced" will a strong catharsis critique be heard against the pathetic group of young and beautiful brainless lost children lead by a middle-ages ex-convict who calls himself nothing less than "God".

I joined The Source Family in 1970 and remained for the duration of the experience, so I feel that my review of this documentary holds some merit. I feel the filmmakers tried to present our story as honestly as they could given their limited understanding of it, especially since the pool of people interviewed were limited in scope by distance & proximity to where the actual interviews were done. The first time that I watched the documentary, it brought back a flood of memories for me from forty years ago and was somewhat unsettling and disquieting; although after watching it a few more times it began to feel less of an intrusion on my senses. And although my son's father was featured at the very end during the credit roll performing his song Woman Beyond The Sun, but did not receive even one credit for either his song or his performance; as well as credit for his song Every Morning being given to Ahom/Robin Baker because she had recorded it....those omissions aside, I felt it was a job very well done considering the source.

A bit of 70's nostalgia. It's very much like most cult groups around that time. A contradictory older man reinvents himself and is elevated by rebellious kids who believe they're on a path to a higher purpose. Of course it's all BS, it's an opportunity to take drugs, rock out, and have sex with strangers (under age strangers). No matter the warning signs the panties just drop. Back then there were so many groups/cults getting around it was almost a competition of "we're the chosen ones!" I think the best thing to come out of the cults is studying the the way youth can be manipulated with hope and promise. The free life they come for, offered by their leader, always becomes far worse than where they came from, in this case it wasn't able to truly get that far. Drugs and mantra go together like peas and carrots. But, you can't deny that feeling of family and love they created.