Enlighten Us

Egomaniac preying on " lost " people..... we've seen it over and over with charismatic speakers ... they suck in these aimless fools , make them pay him to fix their ruined lives .... so bad

Caught this on Netflix, and I was surprised to see that this film had zero reviews. Ostensibly this is the story of the rise and fall of James Arthur Ray, the self-help guru who saw his star crash to the ground when 3 people were killed in a sweat-lodge at his costly motivation retreat. He served time in prison and is aching for his "comeback" (as he says at one point in the film), so he can land his book deal, and move on with his life. The documentary follows him around as he goes to middling speaking tours, pushing people to sign on for further talks and wonders what happened to all the people he helped, where they disappeared after his fall. But the film is also incredibly sly about what it is doing, which is let this unbelievably self-delusional man talk as he justifies his actions, his life and molds the incident into an "experience" that made him stronger while taking no responsibility for it. The more he talks, the tighter the noose gets. The film literally ends with him making the figure three with hand while saying "I'm responsible", and then in the next sentence blame someone else for the deaths. The film is also fascinating when it locates James Arthur Ray in the self- help/motivation landscape that is almost unique to America, the nitty gritty look of the self-help industry-the book deals, the Oprah recommendation, the economics of it all is actually quiet fascinating. It also spends time on how someone like him to could rise and take advantage of deep-seated insecurities and difficult times of the people who may or may not be getting help. This was a really great story told really well.

This subject matter and access to insider sources of this documentary is outstanding. This is a fascinating story and this movie gets at much of this.

I found a few problems severely limited this film. For one they wait too long in the film to explain the foundational event - which makes much of the film too disorienting. Another problem is that much of the screen time is taking with long pointless shots of people walking to their cars or other non-eventful activities. This comes at the expense of establishing fundamental details about the central event that remain unanswered (and could be answered by the people interviewed if they only decided to focus on that instead of filming people walking to the car again).

The documentarians got amazing access to the central figure of this story. Perhaps to keep this access they never ask him the crucial questions or don't press him hard enough. Even if they couldn't get him to answer the questions, they could have talked to other people to get the necessary details of this issue addressed.

Instead, this film left me thinking that it is a deliberately biased account and overall a missed opportunity.

There are two categories of documentaries for me. Ones I have heard about the events but want an in depth picture of what happened or stories I have never heard of. This was the former. I had seen this story before but not this detailed. Mostly because you hear from the man himself. At first you think documentarians are there to tell his story in a sympathetic light, but as you watch you realize that is not the case at all.

The craftiness of this film is that they don't have to call out James Ray as a charlatan, a hypocrite, a narcissist. He does that for them, the more you watch and listen the more he buries himself. It was in parts fascinating and infuriating. The fascination was in the subtlety of letting the viewer draw their own conclusion without having to state the conclusion of his character outright. It was infuriating to see this man who had a clear hand in the death of three people never take responsibility for it unless it was for profit. It was only on stage at his new attempts to rebuild his career as a self help guru that he ever even mentioned those who died, the tragedy of it, or claimed any responsibility. In all of his interviews he never did that. It is a glaring omission that is enlightening on just who he is while serving as a warning. Don't believe the facade of humility and sincerity. Because while he said over and over he wanted to help people, it's clear he only wanted to help himself.

I had to stop watching this documentary when this idiot was somehow back on stage after he served time in jail for killing 3 of his "friends"! They were killed in a sweat lodge of his design! He said that was a terrible time in his life filled with anguish and pain. Never once did he mention how it must've affected the deceased people's families. It was just a tough blow to him... and him alone! By the grace of God he is still here! This is such a pathetic display of humanity and I'm so disgusted with myself that I waisted 30 minutes of my life on it! Do not waste your time on this piece of poop!