Keep Sweet

I specifically made an account to review this well after seeing the low rating. This was an excellent modern documentary on the FLDS & Warren Jeffs. I would have been interested in more than 4 episodes! I am so sad for the underaged girls and really all the people hurt and still hurting from this.

The ending of this documentary kind of seems to support the Warren Jeffs faction! The documentarian began this project, wanting to know about lost boys and ended up falling in love with everyone he meets. So, I don't think it's a unbiased account. It really does seem to turn away from the Warren Jeffs of it all. It does seem sad that people were evicted from their places of business and homes, and it is curious as to why the trust board couldn't work with the people currently living there to try to come to an agreement they could all live with. The title alone seems to focus on the ideology that being sweet is an OK thing and doesn't focus on the restrictions and abuse that people injured in the sector. There is mention of it, there is illusions to it, but I think the documentarian could've been a bit better about really truly showing the dark secrets?

Other reviewers seem to be mixing this up with the Netflix show Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey which is excellent.

This is not that, this is based on the filmmaker taking a stance in favour of the cult and ignoring the horrific abuse.

I did prefer the Netflix one for sure, this one I thought was an interesting contrast because it shows just how indoctrinated some women in this society are, that they can't and won't believe the accusations being made about warren jeffs. It's horrific tbh, but eye-opening when you think about why some women choose to stay or choose not to support the girls that have left.

At first I didn't think it was trying to validate the opinions those women have actually, especially because they do still show the material demonstrating how much of a monster jeffs is.

But then they started getting into the evictions and the consequences they were facing for everything that's gone on, and it was a little too sympathetic in my opinion. Especially when they started referring to it as a kind of "ethnic cleansing" I was like oh nah, you've lose me now sorry.

I'm not sure why the rating is so low (a bit suspicious). It is a great documentary that makes us see that, even in the 21st century, there are still such serious human rights violations. I am very grateful to the brave survivors for making us see the atrocities that exist when people decide to use faith for their own benefit.