Raël: El profeta de los extraterrestres

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.

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.

Very odd series. Has all the trappings of an exposé but doesn't really seem to have much to actually expose. It never explains clearly what exactly the tenets of Raelism are or who Rael is, and then spends three episodes using a lot of scary music and visuals to imply that it's all very bad, but without really giving any clear examples. The main focus seems to be that the Raelians lied about having cloned a child - but if they did, who exactly did that harm? I have no doubt that Rael is a charlatan who has used his sway over people to access attractive young women and enjoy attention and a luxurious lifestyle - and it's hinted that worse stuff went on - but the series doesn't really make it very clear where exactly he differs in this from, say, any given rock star. Presumably there are disaffected Raelians, but we don't really hear from any. Yes, the ones we see all seem deluded, but they also seem fairly content and harmless spreading their message of peace and free love or whatever. But as there presumably is a darker side to all this - otherwise what's the point of the documentary - why isn't it really shown? The main draw is the old footage of Rael and the Raelians, and to be honest just an edited-together collection of that would probably have been more illuminating and interesting.

That aliens might have visited earth, and why wouldn't they? It's a fascinating planet. What I don't believe is that they randomly stopped some French guy and made him the Messiah. I also don't believe that they created humanity, because evolution is a good explanation for that. Rael seems to be a typical cult leader doing nefarious stuff because people let him. The one thing I don't really understand is how opposed people are to human cloning. At the moment it would be a purely biological process - identical twins are clones, so why not give childless couples another option, apart from IVF? If you know nothing about this group, it's a good watch. A.