MOVE ALONG: NOTHING TO SEE, HEAR
Scientology doc fails to break any new ground
While questioning Scientology has never been more en vogue, the numerous critical investigations into the religion make it a tough topic to tackle unless you’ve got something new to say.
With actress Leah Remini having wrapped the first season of her docu-series Scientology and the Aftermath on A&E and the publication of Lawrence Wright’s Going Clear book and Alex Gibney’s corresponding documentary, the only way any other take on the matter to be considered more explosive would be for it to offer considerable access to the church. Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie doesn’t.
The documentary feels like B-roll footage, packed with needless dialogue between the seemingly unengaged filmmaker and his interview subjects. Theroux talks to Steven Mango, a struggling actor who was a member of the Church for three years; Marc Headley, a member for 15 years in the ’90s also featured in Going Clear; and Marty Rathbun, former inspector general of the church.
To make up for his lack of access, Theroux also opts for actors to play the roles of notorious Scientology leader David Miscavige and the religion’s most famous member, Tom Cruise. The documentary even shows the casting process of the actors, and then has them re-enact the little public footage available of the pair discussing Scientology.
The few compelling moments come when Theroux turns the camera on the members who begin to follow him around Los Angeles once they discover he’s been researching the church, often parked outside his home with cameras pointed.
When Rathbun — a man who once punched Headley in the face in order to force him to falsely confess to physically attacking other Church members — heads to the airport, he is accosted by several current members who inform him he is “nothing” and is being a “suppressive
person,” a Scientology term for an anti-social individual who discourages others from their beliefs.
While this scene feels like an enlightening peek into the world of those who leave the church and are then ostracized by it, the video Rathbun takes of his aggressors at the airport was shared on YouTube and went viral in 2014. The film works hard to build intrigue like this, without the substance to back it up.
Theroux nearly takes the documentary in a fresh angle, opening it with multiple warnings from friends not to investigate the subject further. Months into filming, he grows increasingly paranoid about those following him and even the members of his crew and cast.
Still, My Scientology Movie remains every bit the highschool video project it sounds like. Scientology once again provides fascinating subject matter, but this film offers no reason to see it instead of Going Clear.
Going Clear offers detailed explanations of how the church operates, revealing interviews and enough shocking quotables to leave you questioning everything (particularly Cruise’s sanity) — without resorting to poorly orchestrated re-enactments.