Raël: El profeta de los extraterrestres

OMG this so called documentary was so boring and uninteresting.

A couple of laconical interviews with mostly still practicing Raelians, one ex-Raelian, and an embittered French magistrate, this has to be one of the laziest bit of documentary making I've had the displeasure to watch in some time.

Part way through I thought - has this been made by a Raelian.

No expose on any damage the cult may have done to its members, with seemingly very little in the way of trying to track down and interview former cult members, or look into the finances of the cult, or look into breaches of laws e.g. Fraud over the human cloning claims.

Mainly just interviews with current, very old cult members.

Boring, biased, and just very poor documentary making.

As Episode 1 of "Raël The Alien Prophet" (2024 release from France; 4 episodes of about 45 min each) opens, it is "Mexico 2021" and a woman who has been a Raëlian since 1993 is being interviewed. We then go back in time to how Raël got his start, and slowly but surely is building a "movement" based on accepting that UFOs have sent extra-terrestrials to help humankind. At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is yet another documentary mini-series focusing on how a group becomes a cult. The parallels with prior instances are striking, but what makes this still worthwhile is that this movement started in France in the 1970s. There are some interesting "plot changes" along the way which I certainly will not spoil here. The film makers were able to interview quite a few of the cult members (present or past). It seems there are several reviewers here that cannot distinguish between the cult they disagree with and the documentary regarding that cult. To rate this mini-series 1/10 is simply preposterous.

"Raël: The Last Prophet" recently started streaming on Netfilx and I watched all 4 episodes last night in a single setting. As such not revolutionary is revealed but I simply enjoyed watching this. If you are in the mood for another serving of how cults become a cult, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

This is just another generic story about a somewhat charismatic cult leader and a bunch of lost people who followed him, willing to accept any kind of nonsense to find structure and direction in their lives. However, this case isn't particularly interesting, and as a documentary, it feels lazy, much like many Netflix documentaries that prioritize viewer engagement over meaningful storytelling or observation of phenomena. Instead of creating yet another mediocre drama with a straightforward narrative, relying on testimonials and archive footage as supporting arguments for whatever predetermined story they want to tell, the documentary could have explored broader themes, such as the phenomenon of cults and their similarities to religions. It could have delved deeper into the emergence and practice of monotheistic religions over the past 3000 years, examining the differences between this cult leader and historical figures from Judea, Mecca, or Vermont. Alternatively, the documentary could have focused on Scientology and confronted the influence of Hollywood head-on.

I understand Netflix's business model; these documentaries are cost-effective to produce, add fresh content to the catalog, and keep viewers engaged for longer periods. However, they often lack cinematic or social value. While Netflix's documentary production budget may be small compared to their fiction projects, it still surpasses that of traditional non-streaming documentary projects. It's disappointing that Netflix doesn't aim higher and instead serves up the same content we've seen on cable TV for years, albeit with the Netflix brand attached.

Raël is definitely the ultimate for delusional and for gullible, naive followers.

It's not the usual guru sect.

This sect goes way over the top and is still going after nearly 50 years.

What's different about Raël?

Well, this Frenchman claimed that he was taken to another planet to meet the creators of humans.

Not enough you say?

When on the other planet, he met all the main prophets, including Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, etc... Still not enough for you?

Raël claimed they cloned a human being !

That was so controversial the US passed a law to ban any human cloning.

Raël even had a senate hearing where he testified.

This Netflix documentary series is a rare one where it's just the right length.

I enjoyed this documentary because .... honestly , I have never seen such a high level of gullibility, even for sects !

These voices made my head feel like it was going to explode. Constantly talking over each other in weird cartoon or AI sounding voices. I had to turn it off even though the information seemed interesting enough. I don't even think I can explain it. Hopefully I'm not the only one that feels this way.

It's almost like the backup voices are too loud and the audio is all mixed strangely.

I appreciate that it is more fast paced than a lot of these series and that it isn't set up like some true crime podcast.

I with they would release it with the original dialog and English subtitles. Time to find something else to watch.