My Scientology Movie

Dir: John Dower

2016

***

Louis Theroux has quite a unique interview style but many of his documentaries are similar in tone and structure. He's never made a documentary about The Church Of Scientology, which I really thought he had, given that he's usually ahead of the pack in that regard. It's not for want of trying though but now he is famous for his unique documentaries, where the subject doesn't always come of well, attaining a access, a meeting or even a statement from the Church is absolutely impossible. They wouldn't touch him with a barge pole, and for good reason to be fair. Louis has the ability to hand the rope that people decide to hang themselves with, purely by standing there staring at them. The long awkward silences can be excruciating at times but it always gets a rise out of the interviewee. So given the fact that The Church Of Scientology weren't going to give interviews, what on earth would Louis's My Scientology Movie be about? He managed to obtain interviews with former members of the Church who had fled, they were more than happy to be involved but there was no coup as it were. Mark Rathbun, former Inspector General at the Church, met with Louis and explained how they recruit and how they treated many of its members. He confesses to beatings himself and tells how they get away with it. This still isn't really anything new as he has written books and has been interviewed many times since he left the Church in 2004. So, rather than chase members and leaders of the church, Louis asks Rathbun to assist him in recreating dramatic reconstructions of incidents within the church witnessed by him and other ex-members, using auditioning actors. At times this works brilliantly but it does get a bit tired relatively quickly. Louis does end up going old-school and just hangs around outside the church's 'Hole' - a camp were members are kept against their will, hoping to antagonize those inside. It works of course and arguments of whether they are on private land or not arise quite quickly, but it's nothing we haven't seen a million times before. For someone who has managed to penetrate some of the world most secret and hostile organisations in the world, this isn't ground-breaking stuff. However, if you like your Louis on the more mischievous side, then you'll probably really like it. It's also him at his most inventive, although he really didn't have much choice. It is clear that The Church of Scientology use antagonistic methods in order to intimidate and silence their critics, with the documentary crew being filmed by the Church most of the time. It's gets a bit surreal at times when you are essentially watching two people filming each other, being filmed, while being filmed. It's funny because it's absurd but again, this is all well documented. When the actress Paz de la Huerta wonders into the set wearing a bikini, half way through an initial interview with Rathbun, it all seems rather staged and a little distracting. Louis has stated since that it wasn't staged but I'm not sure I believe it and the look on Rathbun's face suggested he didn't either. While I enjoyed it, I don't think it really had the desired affect and in truth, it just didn't work. I learned nothing I didn't already know and I don't think it achieved anything other than getting the subject off of Louis's chest. Rathbun has since discredited it, like he has with most anti-Scientology documentaries released in the last few years, as he feels it isn’t tackling the very real and serious problem and I can't help but agree with where he's coming from.