Avaliações de usuários

Overall well made, edited and the stories are compelling. I do not share other people's views that it should have been "trauma porn" as these things can often be. My real critique is that the filmmaker seemed unwilling to offend in the presentation. It didn't feel raw but sterile and too polished. An example of this is the unwillingness of this film to use the word "cult" when referring to these ministries.

Love the subject matter, think it is incredibly important. This documentary felt so slow. I unfortunately was bored (probably because the conversion nuts are hard a chore to listen to) and almost cut it off multiple times. Worth the watch if you need a background doc, but I recommend reading up on conversion and its horrors to get a better picture.

I feel like this documentary is a little bit scared at times.

I feel like it's scared to fully demonise these monsters that push conversion therapy. It doesn't chastise them as much as I would have thought, which is ok I guess. It makes it more impartial but I feel also gives a message that "oh well look on both sides" when that isn't ok! There is only one side in this! These people are awful. They have caused irreparable damage to queer people!

It is easy to laugh especially in a part where a group of men gather because they are Ex-gay. These men are completely gay. It is like the most campest thing you'll ever see. But before you laugh at this like I saw people did, remember that these people have been brainwashed. They are trapped and scared to be who they are!

Please watch and listen to these peoples stories. They deserve to be heard.

Here we can see same topic but from two different perspectives: the first one - those who run away for better, the 2nd - those who still pray for something they shouldn't.

To paraphrase the old joke: some people had a problem with being gay so they thought: I know! I will become part of a Christian help group. Now they have two problems.

The LGBTQ concept leads to a conundrum that no one has been able to resolve. Since being gay is supposedly a biological imperative from the moment one is born, then any discussion about how legal, moral, permissible it is touches childhood. And that includes stuff from life style changes to elective surgery. It's about the right to choose for children, who are historically prevented from having it. There is a deep divide between what it means to be a protective parent and what it means to be disempowered by society's norms. And that society is fractured, too, it's not like there is a consensus on what is right and wrong.

So in this situation it's not uncommon to have people be gay and feel they don't want to be, however sad that is. I expected this show to be strongly against that idea, but it wasn't. Instead it showed how people either started help groups in good faith or just did it for the money and prestige and how it affected them and others. It may feel uncomfortable to discuss organizations dedicated to changing what you feel is your sexual orientation, but the choice to change one's gender is as valid as the choice to change one's sexual orientation. You can't allow one and deny the other.

I am glad the film did not go full anti-anti and showed multiple viewpoints. It is still a gay... awareness raising film, let's call it that, but it shows actual people having actual problems and trying to find solutions.

You choose to serve one ideology or another. And if you do it publicly and communally, it is very difficult to change your mind. These poor people were trying to reconcile their wants with their needs and their declared ideology and their changing beliefs, every move of them scrutinized and dissected and captive in a web of personal, communal ties and lies. And it broke them. And this continues to go on, no end in sight. There is no "final solution" for this. One has to accept themselves and fight to be accepted by others.

Bottom line: it's a film about people trying to not be themselves, with large groups of people pulling on them in both directions. Not a comfortable position to be in. It is pro-gay (wouldn't have been allowed on Netflix otherwise), but it's pretty balanced.

I truly don't understand the hard stance that otherwise reasonable people take against the LGBTQ community. If God is loving and merciful, our (mis?)understanding of his "will" for someone's sexual/gender identity shouldn't stop our calling to radically love and accept everyone. This doc should be convicting and inspiring for anyone who works in ministry to turn the church into a place of safety, growth, and love, not judgment and fear.

This has got to be one of the most powerful explorations of the evils of Conversion Therapy, not since Jesus Camp have we seen the true depravity that lurks in Christian Churches were monsters, false prophets and molesters dwell hidden in plain sight as men of the cloth.

This documentary is a true testament of the hate and hypocrisy coming from those who preach at the behest of a "loving God."

In a time when hate becomes the norm, we need stories like the ones told here to make us think about the human beings that suffer at the hands of their loved ones, in the name of a church full of evil.

All sin leads to death (Romans 6:16); the differing opinions stem from what defines sin? If the Bible is your litmus test, then h--sexuality is a sin. But so are many other things, the Bible says all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23). God loves us, but He doesn't love the sin.

I don't agree with conversion therapy and I feel sad for those that were coerced into it. I see that almost every person in the doc was an ex-ex-g-. I have heard of, however, and I do know others who have chosen to remain ex-g-, and are living a fulfilled life, contrary to the examples of individuals interviewed in Pray Away. Netflix will never delve into that subject matter, so many will never know the other side of this story.

The documentary was less about conversion therapy and more of a "where are they now" for truly awful people. I felt that only one or two of them even began to grasp the reality of the damage they've done and it's going to take much more than a "My bad. By the way, meet my new life partner. We're so happy!" to make me forgive them. I'm not saying that they're beyond forgiveness but it's going to take much more time and action from each of them to even start to repair the horrible things they've done and this movie doesn't even begin to accomplish that. These former cult leaders only wanted attention and fame in the first place and that's why they sold-out their entire community; now we put the spotlight back on them so they can give a half-assed apology? My own parents still quote their lies about "lifestyle" and "choice" to this day.

Also, showing the current Exodus replacement was confusing. Yes, we know there are awful people out there but why are we giving them even more attention?! If they focused instead on the people that have escaped these cults and how they've thrived in spite of the trauma they experienced then there might have been more of a point to this film. But instead the filmmakers seemed to want to offer "equal time" to the proven false and hateful practice of conversion therapy.

I was crying the whole time. Im not an American and live in a country where conversion therapy is norm. This documentary can save lives.

The purpose of the true documentary film is to tell a story, or a part of a story without undue alterations. "Pray Away" does that in its own way choosing to give a platform to former leaders of the Exodus, monstrous conversion therapy racket. These people who, so it seems, repented their views did an immeasurable damage to hundreds of thousands of GLBTQIA people all over the country. They profited handsomely, if one is to judge their homes and resources by what we saw on the screen. And now they are on the other side, with as one of them put, with "their own people". This movie stays faithful to its goal, but this hard to stomach atonement leaves a very bitter taste. Exodus might be gone in flames, but the homophobia continues to thrive. From a pathetic self-proclaimed trans man praying in strip malls to the arrogant populists in Florida. We are used to it and bullies never win in the end. Bullying is action of a coward, and cowards always run for the hills in the end. And hide.

I was expecting many stories from those who had to experience "conversion therapy" and what they went through. This played more like buyer's remorse from "ex-ex gays", with some random storyline thrown in about a maybe former Trans person who hosts parades for ex trans people...or something (I do not understand why that was thrown in here. It played out like filler.)

Conversion therapy stories are important to tell, but the way this was presented did not capture the damage that's done when this whole "pray it away" philosophy is crammed down people's throats and forced upon the young. I'd say watch it just so you know this was and still is a thing. But it's not giving the whole story.

I HATE THE HATE AND ABUSE THAT THE CHURCH HAS DONE TO THE LGBTQIA COMMUNITY! IT IS DISGUSTING! THIS DOCUMENTARY SHOWS THE TRAUMA AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS THAT CONVERSION THERAPY CAN HAVE ON THE LGBTQIA COMMUNITY! IF YOU SUPPORT THE LGBTQIA COMMUNITY AND YOU ARE AN ALLY TO WATCH THIS DOCUMENTARY OR IF YOU ARE APART OF THE LGBTQUIA COMMUNITY AND THIS DOCUMENTARY WON'T TRUGGER YOU OR ANYTHING THAN I ALSO SUGGEST TO WATCH THIS AND IT MIGHT BRING SOME HEALING.

The overweight guy in the beginning is so not straight. It's just sad that he's been so brainwashed. He talks about his drug addiction which makes it so predictable.

Really shows the connection between the ex gays, religious hate groups, politicians looking to exploit it for votes, and the therapists in it for the 💰. Evil people. You feel real sympathy for these poor victims taken in by it though. All because they've been convinced that Jesus doesn't love them for who they are. Even feel for the leaders who had their own demons.

👍👍

This documentary, while it's good, it's so angering and gut turning that it is truly hard to watch.

It's an exercise in turning around root issues and not a single time addressing them.

This documentary is an alert on how dangerous, irresponsible, evil religious group under the name of Conversion Therapy is.

The documentary should be part of every school/university curriculum to educate students to trust and believe their own instinct about their sexuality and self esteem. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong in being gay, bi-sexual, black, white, yellow, brown, Catholic, Buddhist, Muslin, blind, disabled, mute, fat, fit, smart, dumb, left-handed, right handed, poor, rich.............we are all HUMAN that deserves respect!!!!

So many children and families have had their lives torn apart by conversion therapy, but instead of telling their story, this documentary focuses on the terrible people who caused that harm.

This maybe wasn't the trauma porn others were anticipating, but it was an honest look at the "ex-gay" movement from people who led the charge and had the courage to admit they were wrong.

I grew up in the church. If I'd seen this in my teens it would have saved me a lot of time, shame, and therapy. Hopefully it will help others. I think it will.

I wish it dove more into the actual teachings from both sides. There's a good overview, but I would have liked more detailed arguments.

Very disturbing and didn't go nearly far enough to point out the harm these religious superstitions cause. The dogma and cultish behavior of this middle eastern mythology is horrid.

As a straight female this was heartbreaking to watch. I can't understand why parents would feel the need to put their kids into a conversion camp to "pray" the gay away. It's never worked like that and it never will. When the documentary began it showed a very obviously gay man with a sign Trans to Christ and asking people if they need prayer. Saying he left it follow Jesus. What's sad is how religion has warped the minds of many into thinking that if you don't live in a particular way then they're not going to "the kingdom of heaven." Watching the few that were interviewed admit that they were wrong in what they did to push this agenda just further proves the point that people don't chose this. They are born this way. I do wish that they had gone more in-depth into the psychological problems that these conversion camps had on the many individuals that were subjected to it. Even if you somehow try to convince yourself you're not gay and try and live a straight lifestyles those desires don't go away. Pretty sure when the gay man in the very beginning of the documentary is at home alone he's still dressing up in wigs and dresses.

This just mad me so angry. This topic was inappropriately handled, not what I wanted to see. Where was the condemnation. Too many opportunities where missed, the wrong people were headlined, never have I had less forgiveness in my heart.

All I can say from watching this is that there is nothing wrong with how anyone loves or who they love. Jesus in the end was ONLY about Love. He never demanded that you love in a prescribed way.

You are what GOD put you here to be. And use that to bring people together.

We now know how science works!

You are what you are supposed to be. And remember there is a spectrum.

Read a critic review and thought I'd give this a chance. Where were the people destroyed by conversion therapy? The families torn apart by the hate and rhetoric of these organizations? The decades of harm and blood caused by the people in this filth. It felt like the whole point was a glorification of these horrid people, like we were supposed to feel sorry for them, for decades of misery they've caused. I hated every minute of this film and left more angry not just with the religious right but also the people who made this.