Review:
Giggling,
grimacing and gaining clarity – Going
Clear brilliantly provides insight into the evils of the religion of
Scientology.
I’m a little
behind on getting this review out into the blogosphere because finding showings
of this film was a toughie. Those at the top of the Church of Scientology have been
bringing out the big guns (their lawyers) to attempt to quash this film gaining
any voice. As I found in this film, this type of practice from them is more
commonplace than Scientologists sycophantically applauding life size portraits
of the late creepy creator of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. Quickly pop over to
Google and search the name of the film and the first site you will come across
is alexgibneypropaganda.com, set up, paid for and run by Scientologists to try
and tarnish any damning evidence Alex Gibney has thrown at them. Even when I
was chatting to my fellow film geek friend, she was under the assumption that Going Clear is a ‘mockumentary’! After
finally getting to watch this film in a dinky screen of an Arts Picturehouse, I
can assuredly say that it is far from that and you start to understand why
Scientologists are panicking. Going Clear
is likely to be the most important film this year that you probably won’t get
to see.
As someone who
already finds blind faith and organised religion rather baffling and
uncomfortable notions, what unfolded on the screen began to feel more of a
horror movie than a documentary. Going
Clear tells a tale that seems oh so familiar to the stories of Jim Jones
and Jonestown, just with less of the Kool Aid, more of the money and lots of
Tom Cruise. Based on Lawrence Wright’s book, Going Clear delivers to the audience an in-depth look into the
bizarre history and world of Scientology. Gibney expertly examines all aspects
of the religion and its often invasive and disturbing practices. I frequently
found myself mesmerised by the use of poignant archive footage when accompanied
by the haunting soundtrack, whilst being drawn into the main narrative told by the
exceptionally well-executed interviews with those who have lived as
Scientologists before escaping its grasp…well…as much as they possibly can.
The film is not
without its humour though. Whether it’s our peek at the downright weird
corporate-style promotional videos (the Pope may want to take note of how not
to do it if he ever decides to take a similar route for distracting people from
Catholicism’s sometimes dodgy activities in the future), the happy clappy
sing-a-long “We Stand Tall” video of David Miscavige and other top
Scientologist executives, or interview footage of Tom Cruise jabbering on in
the rather crazy manner he has become known for, all led to chuckles from
myself and the few other cinemagoers around me. However, as I’m sure was
Gibney’s intention, these giggle moments just made what is really going on
behind those seemingly impenetrable gates of Scientology even more horrific.
The clear and apparent embarrassment and shame felt by the interviewees when
they try to understand their naivety for sticking through all the craziness for
so long (some around 30 years) became even more heartbreaking. You could be
forgiven for going into this film assuming that these people were foolish and
brought it all upon themselves, but you leave feeling a sense of pity and fear
for all the other men, women and children who are still so deeply trapped
within the organisation that they are willing to cast out or “disconnect” with
their own family members forever, simply because they are told their loved ones
are SP - “suppressive persons”.
Going Clear is further evidence of Alex
Gibney’s skill at being able to tell intriguing stories about the disturbing
activities of certain echelons within our society that often happen, and are
allowed to happen, right under our noses; the seemingly mundane skilfully
crafted into chilling exposés. When I left the cinema, I was unsure whether to
laugh or cry and started to hope that what I had witnessed was indeed a
‘mockumentary’, as my friend had first thought. That soon grew into a strong
sense of anger, a determination to get others to see the film, and the feeling
of needing a shower to wash off the years of seeing any films starring Tom
Cruise.
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