Raël: Le prophète des extraterrestres

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 !

It starts with this ugly french guy, stupid, charmless, looking like the outcome of a botched scientific operation, who claims he's met aliens, in the most unimaginative and ridiculous way possible. I heard 8-year old kids lying more convincingly.

These aliens (The Elohim) are our creators, and they told him all the secrets of humanity, so he has to spread the word.

The poor guy didn't ask for any of that, he's just the chosen vessel (of all the people in the world, they've chosen the one who looks halfway between a clown and a puddle)

Somehow, some cuckoos are adamant he's telling the truth and devote their life (and money) to him.

They build a community, 70's style, with freedom at its core: Freedom for the leader to f... every woman, for the sake of humanity and the "message", of course. Let alone all the people living naked, in the midst of kids and all the disgusting stories that have been reported around that.

In a nutshell, a manipulating piece of sh... But to be fair, he didn't even try to hide it that much, shame on his followers. Another self-appointed prophet with a gullible audience.

I almost forgot that he had dinner with Mahomet and Jesus, who told him they were actually brothers. Who are we to dare to question that? If Rael says it, it is true, period!

And you'll have to listen to the testimonies of "Raelians", who feel they're unjustly persecuted, for the world fears the righteous ones.

You'll get the pseudo-scientist who sounds like she's taken too many Xanax, then the clueless nymphomaniac guinea fowl who was amazed by the prophet's personality and dreamt of having sex with the Elohims (This lady is probably the dumbest of them all, that's saying something!).

And a bunch of brain-dead morons who still haven't figured it out, 40 years later.

Well, it's almost painful to watch, and if it were a fiction, nobody would believe it.

Beyond ridiculous.

"The highest truth of the universe has been revealed to me: it's that you should all worship me, have sex with me (but only if you're good looking) and give me all your money."

Fascinating and infuriating story about how even some very well educated people can fall prey to a self-absorbed cult leader and waste their lives covering up his lies.

In the style of Holy Hell (about the Buddhafield sect) and Wild,Wild Country (about the Bhagwan/Osho sect), Raël: The Last Prophet tells the story of a cult mainly through interviews with current and former members, mixed with old footage of the sect's often absurd activities.

Interestingly, the cult leader himself, Claude Vorilhon ("Raël"), who has managed to become venerated as a prophet by tens of thousands of followers globally, agreed to be interviewed for this production at his current home in Japan.

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.

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.