CULT UPDATE: ‘SEDUCED’ SHOWS NXIVM’S DARK CORE
After the long but ultimately unsatisfying journey that was HBO’s “The Vow,” I figured I was done with Keith Raniere and his disturbing Nxivm sex cult. But I was wrong.
While “The Vow” focused on former Nxivm higher-ups Mark Vicente and Sarah Edmondson and their frantic quest to expose Raniere for being a predator and take down Nxivm for providing him with a steady stream of victims, “Seduced” is all about India.
India Oxenberg is the daughter of actress Catherine Oxenberg, who played a pivotal role in helping Vicente and Edmondson send Raniere to prison. (He was recently sentenced to 120 years in prison for assorted crimes, including sex trafficking and child pornography.) When “The Vow” was being filmed, India was still part of D.O.S., the all-female society within Nxivm that served as Raniere’s readymade harem. But she is out now, and in the process of telling her story, “Seduced” gets to the dark heart of Raniere and Nxivm that “The Vow” did not really explore.
With the help of cult experts, some particularly damning video clips and India’s first-person account, “Seduced” shows how Raniere and co-founder Nancy Salzman used linguistic techniques and classic cult tools (keeping members in a constant state of exhaustion, separating them from friends and family) to turn smart, curious people (mostly women) into broken shells of their former selves. If “The Vow” left you wondering what people saw in Raniere, “Seduced” shows how he and Nxivm made India and her fellow acolytes see what he wanted them to see. It’s not pretty, but you will not be able to look away.