Branded & Brainwashed: Inside Nxivm

This is a documentary exploring the genesis and growth of NXIVM (which has origins in the word slave) from the very start, using recreations, actual footage, and interviews with both past members and experts on cults. Kieth is a person with great charm and charisma, and had an aura about him of being intellectually superior. He started out like many groups peddling human potential development, instilling in a person a sense of purpose. As it grew, the seminars became more extensive and longer, with the understanding that you must experience discomfort if you want to grow. In reality, it is a technique of breaking a person down to manipulate them. In a way, it is psychological manipulation to have one understand that one can never obtain the goal, but there are workshops ($$$) you can take to try. There are parallels implied to some of the same approaches used by Scientology, which will probably get push back by them. As things became darker, he preached that one being a victim is on you, so it cannot be rape, etc. A person needs to shed their victim hood. The darkest is the recruitment of the DOS program for women. It is chronological, but also a bit uneven. The thing about cults that makes them successful is that one doesn't realize one is in a cult. The strength of the movie is at each stage of the growth of NXIVM, the experts explain how that fits into the eventual goals of the cult. Vanguard and Prefect were names of him and his top associate, so it makes them into not just a person, but much more than that.