Pray Away

Love the subject matter, think it is incredibly important. This documentary felt so slow. I unfortunately was bored (probably because the conversion nuts are hard a chore to listen to) and almost cut it off multiple times. Worth the watch if you need a background doc, but I recommend reading up on conversion and its horrors to get a better picture.

I HATE THE HATE AND ABUSE THAT THE CHURCH HAS DONE TO THE LGBTQIA COMMUNITY! IT IS DISGUSTING! THIS DOCUMENTARY SHOWS THE TRAUMA AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS THAT CONVERSION THERAPY CAN HAVE ON THE LGBTQIA COMMUNITY! IF YOU SUPPORT THE LGBTQIA COMMUNITY AND YOU ARE AN ALLY TO WATCH THIS DOCUMENTARY OR IF YOU ARE APART OF THE LGBTQUIA COMMUNITY AND THIS DOCUMENTARY WON'T TRUGGER YOU OR ANYTHING THAN I ALSO SUGGEST TO WATCH THIS AND IT MIGHT BRING SOME HEALING.

So many children and families have had their lives torn apart by conversion therapy, but instead of telling their story, this documentary focuses on the terrible people who caused that harm.

Here we can see same topic but from two different perspectives: the first one - those who run away for better, the 2nd - those who still pray for something they shouldn't.

The documentary was less about conversion therapy and more of a "where are they now" for truly awful people. I felt that only one or two of them even began to grasp the reality of the damage they've done and it's going to take much more than a "My bad. By the way, meet my new life partner. We're so happy!" to make me forgive them. I'm not saying that they're beyond forgiveness but it's going to take much more time and action from each of them to even start to repair the horrible things they've done and this movie doesn't even begin to accomplish that. These former cult leaders only wanted attention and fame in the first place and that's why they sold-out their entire community; now we put the spotlight back on them so they can give a half-assed apology? My own parents still quote their lies about "lifestyle" and "choice" to this day.

Also, showing the current Exodus replacement was confusing. Yes, we know there are awful people out there but why are we giving them even more attention?! If they focused instead on the people that have escaped these cults and how they've thrived in spite of the trauma they experienced then there might have been more of a point to this film. But instead the filmmakers seemed to want to offer "equal time" to the proven false and hateful practice of conversion therapy.