My Scientology Movie

This is another good Exposé on the cult of scientology. It's sad that people get brainwashed like this. Louis Theroux's very mild 'investigation' caused the paranoid Scientology machine to issue threatening legal letters, to film Louis & his team when he is near their HQ, AND when he's back in his LA studio, to deny them access to public roads, and to call the police on them several times for 'trespassing' (which they were not doing). Definitely not the reactions of a kind & helpful 'church' (yet they are still able to be classified as a 'religious organisation' in most countries and hence retain their TAX- FREE status!). Well done Louis!

Exposing Scientology has become something of a genre unto itself, and this doesn't really break any new ground. There are the usual stories of coercion, confrontations and creepy interactions we've come to expect from Scientologists. If you've seen Going Clear, the Leah Remini series, or even the South Park episode, you won't learn anything you didn't know.

Still, he manages to keep it interesting. The most unique thing he does is hire actors to play out various scenes, with guidance from former Scientologists - mostly Mark Rathbun, the former "Inspector General of the Religious Technology Center". Particular emphasis is given to correctly capturing the explosive temper of David Miscavige.

The biggest weakness in the movie is that Mark Rathbun is kind of an annoying guy. Whereas most former Scientologists are contrite about their own behavior in the cult, he really doesn't take ownership of his past at all. He continuously complains about the abusive tactics the Church uses against him and his family, but whenever Theroux politely points out that he certainly did similar things in the past, he goes into a snit. Weirdly, one of the things that seems to bother him the most is that the Church doesn't acknowledge what a "big shot" he was.

Not a bad way to pass a couple hours, but not likely to be remembered for long.

A great movie, by the master of documentaries and as always it was both funny and enlightening. I don't want to spoil anything but definitely worth the watch and if you like louis theroux you know what to expect already.

As Scientology of course denied access to any of its higher up people Louis improvised and created a unique documentary that can finally allow people to see what Scientology is and what the people are really like within it.

Not sure about the other review, he must of been a Scientology troll. How can anyone not trust Louis :)

I was so excited to finally see this documentary, however the lack of access Louis is able to gain into the church makes for a very boring and uncaptivating documentary.

apart from the odd confrontation with a church member which is somewhat entertaining, there is nothing of substance in this 'movie' no direction at all.

We all know they're a bunch of loonies but this being a theroux doco I wanted something more. Something that would really shock me.

Perhaps this is the reason for the delayed release of this film. With such little footage I can imagine this being a challenging piece to put together.

Why couldn't he go undercover and try to gain some sort of access into the church? Perhaps do an auditing session and turn it into an interview very subtly (which we know he's good at).

I'm a huge fan of this man's work but this this just doesn't do it for me. I rarely lose focus when watching anything louis. I just can;t find any sort of story in this. A strange movie that has left little impact, only repeating things we already knew about this psychotic church.

This is my review of My Scientology Movie (spoiler free)

*** (3/5)

MAKING A DOCUMENTARY about such an elusive subject like Scientology will always guarantee the filmmaker a decent sized audience. For instance maybe a small army of lawyers. Alex Gibney estimates that around 160 legal eagles watched last year's documentary Going Clear before its initial set release, and at times it's almost too hard to imagine that Louis Theroux's addition to L. Ron Hubbard's DVD cupboard wasn't given a similarly fine-toothed treatment. Although there are a few people most likely to goad at this litigious organisation than a man who's turned the tables on everybody from White Supremacists to Westboro Baptist's rabid flock just by asking the right questions, listening a lot and being disarmingly goofy and somewhat admirable. But while the BBC's mild-mannered assassin brings all of his weapons to bear here – like awkward long silences, innocent but insistent probing, and using his vast reserves of likability – however he somewhat meets his match with Scientology.

He is constantly bombarded by the organisations bug-eyed loyalists, threatened by its long list of lawyers and he is unable to get close to its leader David Miscavige, Theroux instead chooses to recreate its practices (and, more pertinently, malpractices) using young unknown actors he casts in sessions, with a little bit guidance from former Scientologists-turned feared whistleblower Mark Rathbun, and even the odd visit to its headquarters. Unfortunately unlike one of its inspirations, Joshua Oppenheimer's, The Act of Killing, Theroux's gambit is only half successful. As Oppenheimer's film featured real people recreating their own shocking acts of genocide; here Theroux's actors make willing surrogates, but they're no proper substitute for the access to the organisation itself. Although they do pull off a rather convincing recreation to the infamous Hole which is used as a prison for some of the more senior Scientologists (or sea orgs) where some of the more extreme allegation to abuse took place, however since then Miscavige has denied the allegations and the existence to The Hole. There is one scene when Theroux is put under a lie detector and Mark is stating that this technique would be used as part of the Scientology agreement, it's a way that Miscavige would look into your memories and see if you really belong to be part of the church.

Theroux travels all around Los Angeles learning about the recklessness of Scientology and what kind of place it really is even with top Hollywood actor Tom Cruise played pretty convincingly by Rob Alter, who has pretty much the same smile and repeating lines from the real Tom Cruise archive footage which Rarthbun was so eager to show, when Theroux learns some of the key phrases and acronyms from Scientology. There are a few times when Theroux tries to investigate some of the key sites that are part of the organisation but he is told to leave the premises as he is trespassing and told to drive off a mile away from their road, even though the road in question was a public freeway. But these Scientologists felt threatened by his presence. There is one moment when he meets Tom de Vocht one of the more senior members of the group and he calls it a cult and Theroux learns that he was abused almost every day for 31 years as he was a part of the church throughout the second act Theroux learns about all these techniques one of which called squirrel busting, and he is eager to try out this technique were there will be many abusive words used, and other members laughing as they try it. Throughout the movie it has some funny moments, mostly with the squirrel busting, however Mark was ambushed by other members who were squirrel busting him, and yet again Miscavige tried denying that his members do that as a harassment technique.

During the engaging third act of the film Theroux learns that Rathbun has a very dark secret that he was one of the top members of the group and he learns that he was a much feared individual as at some points with the group he would help Miscavige with the abuse, which can be shown as he argues with Theroux after he is harassed by yet another few Scientology members who abuse him. Also Theroux reads a statement that Rathbun wrote about the group filled with some rather aggressive words against the church. Ultimately My Scientology Movie has very engaging and entertaining moments mixed with some sort of funny moments all together stitched up with some clever dialogue and a lot of research all though it would have been nice if we could meet the real David Miscavige this is a movie he may never see, it's a very intriguing documentary that sometimes fails to deliver at some other points.

VERDICT: Theroux's first big-screen doc is an entertaining affair peppered with surreal moments and wry wit; but unfortunately its elusive screwed up elusive subject is out of reach.

6/10 entertaining.