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.

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.

I think a lot of people cursing the mother and questioning the impact of the documentary don't seem to have experience or knowledge of abuse and manipulation to this degree.

Some question how a mother can let this happen for so long and even the interviewer kept asking them why they didn't leave. The worst thing to ask an abuse survivor.

Manipulation can be so strong where it doesn't occur to you and your reality is completely shaped by the abuser.

The fact this was in the 80s when seeking therapy and connection to the outside world was limited made it that much harder.

The documentary gave us a glimpse of the world of Children of God. But it was flawed. The ending was very unfinished and it felt like half the picture was missing. I wasn't surprised no male members were willing to be interviewed...the church served them well.

It's a worthwhile beginning to the cult but needs a follow-up.

This British show about the cult, The Children of God, was made for TV back in the 1990s. Unlike most exposees on cults I've seen, this one only interviews one family and tell their experiences within this weird group. So, when a well-spoken representative of the cult is interviewed near the end, a person not acquainted with the organization might just think that perhaps the family was wrong or had an axe to grind. Interviewing other ex-members really, really would have helped...and I have no idea why they didn't do this. So what you get is a several family members (and the male family members, inexplicably, were NOT in the documentary) complaining about the weird behaviors within the group. The sexual abuse of children, the weird sexual antics of the followers and the reclusive nature of their leader, David Berg, are all nice to hear about but more documentation really could have helped them make a much more convincing case. About the only really convincing stuff they had, apart from some of this family, were the weird sex videos apparently made by the cult. And, you do see a fair amount of nudity from the clips...so be forewarned.