Split Image, l'envoûtement

This 1982 film is supported by a great cast and film score by Bill Conti (Rocky, FX.) Filmed largely in Dallas and Texas, this anti-cult film deals with basically the same subject as a Canadian film released the previous year. Ticket To Heaven (1981) also has a great cast and for me is a much more entertaining and realistic film. TTH deals with the true story of a depressed young man getting caught up in the cult of Sun-Yung Moon, while Split Image portrays the identity crisis of a young man who is seeking answers beyond the sometimes shallow lives of his family and friends. His confusion leads him to a new-age cult, where he finds the leader to be even more sinister and devoid of answers than those he runs away from. While many of life's questions can be answered by the Bible, proper spiritual guidance and direction is essential, particularly for those who are not mature enough to seek God on their own.

Anyone who is unfavorably commenting about Peter Fonda's performance seems to forget just how much of a trippy hippie he himself was in the 60's. His role here was absolutely brilliant as the manipulative Neil Kirklander. James Woods; well, as usual, simply stellar! My favorite roles for him are exactly personified in this one: sleazy, unrefined, unkempt, easily angered and irritable, and doesn't care what the world thinks. He makes being disgusting look like such fun (when he spits on Kirklander's picture as a sort of de-programming method for Danny). O'Keefe and Dennehy are equally superb and convincing. Karen Allen is as we always expect; vulnerable and adorably sensitive. Fonda takes it all on this one for me, the man who gave John Lennon "I know what it's like to be dead." Excellent!

This is a very good movie and scarily realistic even in 2023! I love that Danny 'Joshua' Stetson starts out as a smarmy cynical young man and his transformation feel quite credible.

A few things about the cult are implied but never made really explicit, e.g. How they use hard labour and malnutrition as tools for control. How they use religion as substitute for sex. I wondered if Kirklander was drugging his disciples because Danny 'Joshua' Stetson mentioned that he doesn't shave anymore and no longer has any sex drive, and Rebecca mentioned that she and the other girls no longer get their period. Was this physical transformation induced by drugs or was it a psycho-somatic phenomenon? Other topics were mentioned in passing but not fully explored, e.g. When Charles Pratt mentions that Homelanders are in fact collecting money for charities that don't exist.

The theme of duality - foreshadowed earlier in the movie by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - continues here by making us ask the question: Who are the 'good' guys? And who are the 'bad' guys? Is Homeland really such a horrible place compared to the materialistic world outside? Is Kirklander really such a bad guy compared to Charles Pratt?

The de-programming scenes were the best part of the movie! Especially the scene where the cult attacks the safe house and the aftermath of that; the exchange that Charles Pratt has with Danny 'Joshua' Stetson's family is very powerful & revealing stuff!

Sorry, but "Ticket to Heaven" (released the same year) is a much better film about the same subject. While it's an important one, "Split Image" treats it a bit lazily, as another reviewer here pointed out, especially the deprogramming, which is seriously amateurishily done and probably wouldn't have worked in real life.

Moreover, the script gets itself entangled into a touch of reasoning about the duality of humankind - not too subtly, with Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde in the first act and all, but doesn't do that very well. It just becomes a distracting half-baked idea.

To cover up the poor writing, a lot of special effects, music, and violent action are being used, but that cannot conceal the shortcomings of this movie. Compare that with how "Ticket to Heaven" avoids all that completely and becomes much more powerful for it.

Still. I'd rather have you watch this movie than none at all about cults, since the timeless issues of mind control and mankind's yearning to avoid thinking for themselves sadly are as up to date today as they were then.

Overall I really enjoyed this movie. The acting was terrific, with a lot of nuance and subtlety conveyed by the actors all around. The plot was interesting and it felt very authentic.

Whether or not this is how cults recruit/operate, or how intervention deprogramming happens, I don't know. However I suspect it is close to real life. My parents sent me to a fundamentalist church camp one summer when I was a teen and it was eerily similar to this movie. As a teen it felt like pure (albeit very strict) love, but as an adult looking back many decades ago, I can now say that my summer camp experience was creepy and inappropriate. In any event, because of insight from my personal experience, this is why I suspect that cults operate similar to what was portrayed in this movie.

One funny thing about this movie is the musical score which sounds is really dated. It was neither distracting nor annoying, but, my gosh, it just sounded like it was 100 years (even though it's only 1982).

This movie is definitely worth a watch for the entertainment value, plus it's a very well made movie overall, considering the period and content.