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Overall I really enjoyed this movie. The acting was terrific, with a lot of nuance and subtlety conveyed by the actors all around. The plot was interesting and it felt very authentic.

Whether or not this is how cults recruit/operate, or how intervention deprogramming happens, I don't know. However I suspect it is close to real life. My parents sent me to a fundamentalist church camp one summer when I was a teen and it was eerily similar to this movie. As a teen it felt like pure (albeit very strict) love, but as an adult looking back many decades ago, I can now say that my summer camp experience was creepy and inappropriate. In any event, because of insight from my personal experience, this is why I suspect that cults operate similar to what was portrayed in this movie.

One funny thing about this movie is the musical score which sounds is really dated. It was neither distracting nor annoying, but, my gosh, it just sounded like it was 100 years (even though it's only 1982).

This movie is definitely worth a watch for the entertainment value, plus it's a very well made movie overall, considering the period and content.