Going Clear: Scientology e la prigione della fede

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.

This documentary is an extraordinary one, and has been attacked by Scientology for the simple reason that it exposes many of the destructive and sociopathic policies it mandates because they are Hubbard's orders, now etched on apocalypse-proof stainless steel plates.

The only defense the 'church' can field is bold-faced denial and (as per Hubbard's unchangeable orders) relentless attacks on any who speak against it. It may come as little surprise that the 'church' actually provides specialized training and drills to help its spokesmen deliver blatant lies more believably.

The moral justification for telling these lies is built-in to Scientology and separates it from every other 'religion' except for (predictably) Satanism, namely the fact that there is no overriding moral code forbidding murder, bearing false witness and the like.

Hubbard wrote materials expressly for the public intended to give the appearance of morality and decency, but ultimately, whatever profits the 'church' is Good and whatever 'impedes' it is Evil and no holds are barred where either is concerned. The result is the nightmare that is Scientology.

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!

It is an excellent documentary, interviewing people that have been down through the void and scheme of scientology, so it carries a lot of weight.I found it really amusing and thorough, especially the way things about the religion are explained.It provides 2 hours of great amusement, 2 hours that will consume you totally. We are all interested in learning more about the "mistery" that surrounds this cult movement,and how it has obtained so many followers, and even more the colossal fortune. Watch it, it is worth the time spent....You'll learn a thing or two about how easily a person can be manipulated...Even the smartest one of us.

Alex Gibney's Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is such a fantastic documentary because not only does it root itself in facts in an attempt to summarize the Church of Scientology, its founder L. Ron Hubbard, its rise to the mainstream, and its many controversies, but it also strips down its content to its most basic ideas of man and humanity. Gibney examines man's desire for purpose in the world, and a compelling need to feel significant in the grand scheme of the universe, whilst juxtaposing the ideas of cults and cultic imprisonment and their pursuit for those lost souls who are searching for meaning. Gibney handles all of these elements extraordinarily well, and gives us the rare documentary where we emerge with an immense amount of new information and have a takeaway theme to attach to it all.

Going Clear is divided into three specific acts: the first concerns high-profile celebrities who were once a member of the Church of Scientology before leaving, such as Spanky Taylor, Paul Haggis (director of 2004's Crash), and Jason Beghe, the second concerns L. Ron Hubbard's life and how the publication of his bestselling book Dianetics led to the creation of Scientology, and the third act shows the church's notorious allegations for abuse, harassment, and misconduct, most of which perpetuated by its current Chairman David Miscavige.

This structure, and Gibney's liberal two hour runtime, allow for the church to be explored not only in a sense that adheres to and respects chronology, but allows for surmounting tension to build from a pacing standpoint. By the time the hour mark rolled around, I was completely immersed in this story, going from knowing relatively nothing about the church, remaining blissfully ignorant, to becoming hungry for more information. A great deal of this lies on Gibney's structure and depth of research, all of which churns up confirmation through news articles, fact checks, and testimonies from primary sources, but another portion is thanks to his presentation, which is reliant on suspense and gradual tension in a way that makes the documentary interesting rather than manipulative.

The interviews with former church members also do an exceptional job at detailing the church's different levels of involvement in Scientology, as well as their methods, demystifying what we've heard in the past and cutting through lingo to give us digestible information. For example, we learn that Scientology is rooted in condemnation of war, insanity, and criminality, imagining a world where everyone is a like-minded, mentally capable individual that can't be compelled to carry out such senseless violence. There are people known as auditors, who help people allegedly detect the mass of their own thoughts (something science has yet to prove) and have them discharge their emotions to make them in a complex state of human realization. Auditors use devices known as "E-meters" to help achieve such grandiose ideas, working with a machine that's part lie detector in the way a small needle glides through a scale of numbers, again, allegedly detecting brain activity and thought mass.

The more Gibney paints Scientology, and the more ex-church executives, members, and officials discuss it, it all seems as if Scientology is unproven "pseudo-science" that operates with cult-like devotion in the way it sucks people, particularly the lost and the wayward, in young, works to make them see that they have a purpose, and fighting to keep them loyal to the church at every cost if they dare try and leave. Other interesting elements of the film come in the detailing of Hubbard's life, as we hear from accounts of his wife that he was emotionally abusive towards her, as well as money-hungry, essentially creating a religion to gain an income and not be burdened by governmental tactics. These documented pieces of fact are enough to turn any potential Scientologist away from the church and never look back.

But why, Gibney asks, do celebrities like John Travolta and Tom Cruise, as well as hundreds of thousands of other individuals willingly flock to read Hubbard's teachings and hear Miscavige's fiery sermons if all these ideas circumvent into unsubstantiated assertions and the religion's creator has enough dirt on him to be labeled a phony? Again, it all comes back to the idea of man seeking a purpose in his life, which Gibney bravely articulates. We hear people like Beghe, Taylor, and Haggis talk about how all they wanted when they were young was a sense of life that the world had yet to provide them, and took pride in Scientology's teachings of such complex, human ideas that were foreign to them. It wasn't until they witnessed numerous acts of abuse and cruel manipulation for themselves that they made the decision to leave the church, many of them still being harassed by Miscavige's watchdogs to this very day.

The final main idea of Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief I have yet to present is the one proposed from its title. The concept of "going clear" in Scientology refers to the alleged erasing of one's conscious, which, in a Freudian context, where Scientology seems to get a lot of its ideas, means erasing all traumatic events, suppressed memories, and crippling thoughts from one's head. This state of "clearness" allows for a person to function unburdened by past experiences and look forward positively in a new way unheard of prior to being introduced to concepts of Scientology. If this was the weirdest idea spoken about in Going Clear, it would still be a documentary well worth seeing, but the fact that it digs well beyond the surface and explores the subject with an unforeseen level of depth makes it a truly fantastic piece of documentary filmmaking from one of the finest living documentarians today.